In their prior musical projects Stars Of The Lid and Furry Things, respectively, Brian McBride and Kenneth James Gibson made some of the most beautiful noise to come out of Austin, Texas. They’ve since joined forces as Bell Gardens—a band that marries Stars Of The Lid’s avant-classical drones with Furry Things’ smacked-out shoegaze, but with a distinctly Americana bent. The result is an enormous, elegiac sound that hails from similarly wide-open, lunar country fields as Mojave 3, and evokes Spiritualized in its softer (and more sober) moments.
Bell Gardens’ second album, Slow Dawns For Lost Conclusions, is full of even more of these slowly unfolding psychedelic hymns, with tender, trippy vocal harmonies over ambient washes of strings, pedal steel, and piano creating a perfect soundtrack for your next pre-dawn rumination. It’s out next week on Rocket Girl, but you can stream the whole thing below now, provided you aren’t planning on operating any heavy machinery.
And for those on a schedule, here’s a shorter album trailer that gives you just enough of a taste.