With the early fuzz tone of the guitar and the insistent rhythm, it’s uncanny how much “In the End” from Highway Child’s second album through Elektrohasch Schallplatten, Sanctuary Come, sounds like “Hey Bulldog” from The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine. With the McCartneyist piano bounce (transposed onto an organ, interestingly) of the memorable “When the Sun Burned the Ground” following immediately, the record very quickly becomes a mystery tour of the most magical variety, offering moments of Lennon, McCartney and Lennon/McCartney as filtered through retro tones and psychedelic tropes that, while sounding vintage, are actually modern innovations to the genre.

“When the Sun Burned the Ground” might be the highlight of Sanctuary Come, but even if it is, it’s only because of the function it serves in the side one medley of songs. Opener “Red, White and Blue” (gone before you know it, so smoothly does it lead into the next song), “In the End,” “When the Sun Burned the Ground” and the title track take the Abbey Road approach and bleed into one another while at the same time introducing vastly different musical ideas. The title track takes the hopping piano notes already used and puts them atop a droning fuzz riff with swirling noises to accompany. Only the silence that follows “Sanctuary Come” lets you know you’re into another phase of the record.

All well and good, but it’s worth noting how much of a departure it is for the Danish four-piece. Last year’s On the Old Kings Road debut felt more garage rock and less lush than many of these tracks, and was playful in a less mature or sophisticated way. The songwriting on that album was good, but Sanctuary Come feels put together on a different level entirely. Not only is the band worrying about guitar, bass and drums, but organs, guest spots from the likes of Lorenzo Woodrose (he shows up on “Turn Me On”) and other dashes here and there of Sgt. Pepper to throw into the mix. “Once is Once too Much,” the first song after the medley ends, takes a Lennon-solo feel and works it into their already established frame of psych. Vocalist Patrick Heinsøe, for what it’s worth, does a more than respectable job adapting to the demands of the song.

Read more »

As soon as I turned on On the Old Kings Road — originally released last year, now serving as the Elektrohasch debut from Danish garage rock four-piece Highway Child — and heard the powerful brew of “Lonelytime Blues,” with its potent mixture of The Beatles‘ “Oh! Darling” and Queens of the Stone Age‘s “The Sky is Fallin’,” I knew this was the kind of band who, when they’re at the bar talking to your girlfriend after their set, you don’t get up and go to the bathroom saying, “I’ll be right back.” They’ll be gone and you’ll be left with a tab that — wouldn’t you know it? — includes a not insignificant amount of packaged goods to go. No way man, if you gotta hit the head, you hold it. You’ll feel better later.

They take dirty blues and the chic swagger of modern ’70s revival indie and throw in just enough testosterone to make it realistic and basically, what they really want is to make out. As the “Sit on my face and tell me that you love me, come on” chorus (accompanied by some guitar oddly reminiscent of The Talking Heads — it’s weird, but it works in the song) of “Highclass Bitch” attests, the raunch on On the Old Kings Road is thrown in with a kind of childish charm that — given a considerable boost by the catchy songwriting and overall simplistic nature of the tracks — works out to a fun balance. Not one I’d play at the family reunion, but it’s perfect as a catalyst for one of those sunglasses-wearing moments where you’re driving and you feel like you’re the coolest motherfucker on the road even if none of the other cars know it. Even if no one’s looking. Even if you drive a Volvo.

Read more »