Cliffs
Pets In The City
Self-Released
Street: 05.26
Cliffs = (MGMT + Panda Bear) x Saucerful of Secrets–era Pink Floyd

In their first full-length album, Cliffs take a few more positive steps, adding some higher production values on newer songs and honing their sonic range. Overall, the band has a nice, eclectic sound that carefully channels a lot of psychedelic groups from the ’60s and ’70s, but as I mentioned in my review of their Experiments EP, they travel well-worn paths. There are many catchy tunes like the effervescent charmer, “Capsules,” which has lovely dancing keys, and there are ear-worms like “William Futh,” which has great beach-rock reverb guitar and trippy atmospheres. Overall, Pets is like tonguing a tiny corner of a musical acid stamp—it’s safe and still fun and groovy, but, when it comes down to it, the world’s more vibrant when you go all in. Cliffs have room for lots of innovation and growth—some mind-expansion would really push them over the er … cliff. –CJ Morgan