Label: Lunatic Entertainment / The Orchard
Released: 11th March 2022
Open up The Lazy Eyes’ ‘Songbook’, and there’s a decent chance you’ll be struck by an array of vivid flowers and the sudden heat of the sun beating down. Lay back, close your eyes, lap up those rays. It’s time to unwind.
The saturation is turned up to full blast, the yellow and orange hues of The Lazy Eyes’ psych-rock world at their most vibrant. Each track is a rush as it eases through your veins, relaxing every part of you bit by bit with its breeziness. At times it leans more into those rock influences, with ‘Trance’ playing a far more ambitious, cinematic card. ‘Fuzz Jam’, too, leans on those inciting, heavy guitar lines. They never quite shake that laidback meditative quality, though. They steal your stresses and encourage you to completely unravel.
A mist-like veil falls over ‘Songbook’, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. The Lazy Eyes dance around you with a flourish, consuming you deeply and detaching you from the real world, even momentarily. There’s something innately mystical about tracks like ‘Where’s My Brain’, where vocals float in so delicately that they’re almost lost against the disordered backdrop. It’s an otherworldly quality.
The album basks in that sunlight it exudes and flourishes under its warmth – ‘Imaginary Girl’ is a balmy, desperate standout. It’s a little bit lost and a little bit melancholic but magically all-encompassing. Their petal-strewn, blue-skied world never loses its kaleidoscopic quality. Even at their most anguished, there is an unshakable lightness to their sound. On ‘Songbook’, The Lazy Eyes deliver a debut album to become completely enamoured by and caught up in.
