CHEVAL SOMBRE - S/T

If you are familiar with Spacemen 3, especially the comatose stillness of Pete "Sonic Boom" Kember’s contributions, it shouldn’t take you long to hear the obvious similarities on the mysterious Cheval Sombre’s debut full-length. In fact, the one- and two-chord songs, simple pentatonic melodies, tremolo and reverb, lack of drums, even the vocals, are so spot-on it’s eerie (check “I Sleep” for proof). The only key difference is that these songs are accompanied by a gently strummed acoustic guitar. No surprise, then, to discover that Kember produced and helped out with the instrumentation. As an added bonus, both Dean Wareham (another indie-psych pioneer via Galaxie 500 and Luna) and his current partner Britta Phillips round out the backing, though they keep it so spare and invisible as to preserve the space and simplicity so favoured by Kember. Throw in a surprising yet apt cover of the Doors’ “Hyacinth House” and you’ve got a great drone-pop record that Spacemen 3 fans can especially enjoy as a form of musical resurrection.