Morgan Delt – Phase Zero

West Coast slacker psychedelia – it’s hardly under-represented on the record racks these days. Which isn’t necessarily a problem – at least until originality falls subservient to vibe, and whilst Delt’s first LP on the Sub Pop label acknowledges the former, it does tend to get a little lost en route, as if the Californian singer-songwriter is too preoccupied marking off genre mileposts to truly break any new ground.

Vague alt-country leanings, diluted Haight-Ashbury-isms and Taylor Courtney-Courtney vocal touches (A Gun Appears certainly has something of The Dandy Warhols to it) – they’re all present in various measures. But it’s not that Phase Zero is an exercise in pastiche or imitation; this is a record in which appeal pivots upon understatement. Opener I Don’t Wanna See What’s Happening Outside is wry and fluid (and rather beautiful with it), while Some Sunsick Day ending things on a neat, uplifting, note. All in all a gracious record, and one that grows on the listener.