The only time I’ve ever managed to upset our valued readers is when I’ve posted ‘covers’, so I tend to avoid heading in that direction at all. But a very different sounding cover of a Beach Boys song by our favourite new Swedish dream pop band – what could possibly go wrong?
Astral Brain burst on to the scene last year with the impossibly good ‘Five Thousand Miles’. They were founded by Einar Ekström (previously of Le Futur Pompiste) but after meeting with Siri Af Burén (Testbild!, Band In Box, Vit Päls) in 2015 they formulated the idea of a project, and that became Astral Brain. ‘Five Thousand Miles’ was followed up with the excellent ‘From Above’, and now we’re offered a diversion from their own material, with the unusual ‘California Girls’.
There’s always been a 60s influence to the Astral Brain sound, so a Beach Boys cover fits, but their interpretation of ‘California Girls’ is really way out in the ether somewhere. I’ll let you make your own mind up about it, but I like it.
This is ‘California Girls’.
We hope to new original Astral Brain material soon, but we might have to wait a little while, as we hear rumours of a full length album in the making - which is obviously really exciting.