![]() ![]() ![]() I could imagine an alternate universe, though, where the Beachwood Sparks took off in the early ’00s indie rock boom in the place of, say, similarly twee label mates, the Shins. By the Robots EP, the band went off into the more experimental direction, ditching a good deal of its catchy songwriting, before disappearing. Already, however, one could hear the beginnings of discord. Yet Once We Were Trees added something more to the retro feel, by experimenting with textured droning sounds to fill out the tight melodic abilities at each song’s core, fuzzing out country rock with ‘90s noise pop. The band had a breezy peacefulness that was infectious, if not groundbreaking. And like the Byrds, or maybe Buffalo Springfield, Beachwood Sparks allowed the differing talents of various band members to shine forth in their own manner from song to song. The band had already shown its chops at recreating the classic Laurel Canyon sound of the ‘60s and ‘70. Once We Were Trees, produced by J Mascis, was a great album that took the dedicated country rock sound of the band’s self-titled debut from 2000 and updated it for the new millennium. The disappearance of Beachwood Sparks does make some sense. But now they’re back with The Tarnished Gold, which resumes as if no time had passed, a fitting statement for a band that recreates the sounds from a bygone era, when psychedelia and country music cross-pollinated at the end of the ‘60s. The band hit a high note with their second album, Once We Were Trees, released on Sub Pop in 2002, and then followed up the next year with the more difficult EP, Make the Cowboy Robots Cry, before quietly dissolving into various side-projects. It has been almost a decade since Beachwood Sparks, the L.A. ![]()
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