Eclectic rockers come into their own, construct beauteous art-rock nuggets
On third album Shall Noise Upon, Apollo Sunshine finally focuses its kaleidoscope long enough to savor the sights. Never troubled by the problem of finding a voice so much as slowing down the torrent of post-everything fuzz guitar, tempo shifts and schizoid stomps, the trio here finds a middle ground between melody and experimentation. Part is simply a matter of consolidating structures—verse/weirdness/verse—but there’s also a newfound grace and, in that, an even-keeled mission. The disc-opening “Breeze” fades into a shimmering exotica that melts into dripping sunshine folk, with harmonies tipping into layered harps. Everywhere, there’s gorgeous atmosphere, like the evocatively celestial instrumental “Green Lawns of Outer Space” and, later, Sam Cohen’s swelling pedal steel cutting through “Fog and Shadow.” Despite the detours (like Tropicália shimmy “Honestly”), the music frequently comes back to a strum. And then another totally unexpected interlude.