For most, a perfect summer album means bringing the party—dance jams to get you hot and sweaty. I don’t know about you, but I’m already hot and sweaty. I’m looking for something like the cool breeze that hits you just as you’re reclining in the garden with a little sundowner. Le Voyage hits the spot perfectly, with gauzy soft-psych streaming over everything and letting the mind relax and bliss out completely.
Steering clear of the claustrophobic reverb flood of Animal Collective and the like, Alps paint their psychic landscapes the old-fashioned way: shimmering twelve-strings, cymbals so airy they must be transparent, and the old stand-by tambura—'70s secret code that things are about to get trippy. When things do get electronic, things don’t stray far from that vintage palette—gurgling analog synths, tape echo, and distinctly French-sounding found-sound collage, with plenty of room left for your own imagination as you let your head float up into the ether.