Haight Ashbury -‘Here In the Golden Rays’ (Lime Records)

Haight Ashbury occupy an interesting musical space of their own in 2010. Despite hailing from Glasgow, they sing in American accents.

Maybe this wasn’t comment-worthy thirty years ago, but it’s unusual now when so many acts from the Proclaimers to Aidan Moffat are comfortable and happy with performing in their own accents. Then again, the combination of sixties folk sounds with garage rock (both Pentangle and the Jesus and Mary Chain are names that have been bandied about when discussing this band) is quite a winning combination. And it kinda figures that -whilst they might seem poles apart on paper – this band have supported both the Waterboys and the Vaselines. I should know: I saw them supporting both those acts.

Within this debut album, there is some exciting experimentation going on; yet perverselythere are also times when tracks seem to get a little boring, fading into the next one, and I get anxious for them to get on with the next track. But there’s quite a few highlights on here, including album opener ‘Freeman Town’ and also ‘Favourite Song’ and ‘Molotof.’

Some great ideas here, and I look forward to seeing what they do next…

***1/2

Here In The Golden Rays is out now on Lime Records.

Haight Ashbury -‘Freeman Town.’ mp3

Stream more tracks at myspace