Soft Walls – No Time

Confession time. When Cold Pumas dropped their debut in 2012, this hack was thoroughly unimpressed. I said as much via a clumsy whine on a reputable reviews site, culminating in a desperate plea for the band to make a second album so good that I’d be begging for their forgiveness. “They should sneer right back at my pitiful contrition and disdainfully boot my face off,” I added for good measure. Erm.

This isn't quite Cold Pumas, but guitarist Dan Reeves’ psych project Soft Walls has The Skinny reaching for a face guard nonetheless: No Time is a superb collection of motorik rhythms, blissed-out dreamscapes and post-Velvets shuffle. At its exhilarating best – like the shrill motifs that slice through Guided Through’s pulsing hypno-pop – it’s nu-psych par excellence, swimming gracefully through murky waters where less artful types might flounder. Meanwhile, the dizzyingly pretty Transient View provides a perfect palette-cleanser for blown-out ears. Guess we didn’t need our face for much anyway.