Blues & Oranges Album Review

Please excuse the drug references in the following review of Sherpa’s Blues & Oranges. Even without drugs this album is a real trip. A psychedelicatessen of fluid pop melodies, Candy Crush hallucinations, hall-of-mirrors reverberation and twisted synth.

For those yet to hear the singles, which are doing the rounds on the local independent radio stations, I’m happy to tell you that Blues & Oranges is not an extension of Lesser Flamingo; it’s an expansion of the unique Sherpa sound. The psychedelic circus that was Lesser Flamingo is now housed in a crystal cave in the sky.

While Blues & Oranges is more accessible electro pop than Lesser Flamingo, the eccentric tangential breakdowns and the psychedelic infusion remain. Miyunhey is what Neil Diamond sounds like being snorted by a clown, Quit Time is like Frank Sinatra on shrooms, and when the arpeggiating Cube melts a couple of beats a minute it’s like Jimi Hendrix on salvia.

This is the New New Zealand sound on LSD.

Blues & Oranges is available now, in digital or vinyl form, from the Sherpa Bandcamp (http://sherpa.bandcamp.com/album/blues-oranges).