As If There Was a Missing Late-’60s Beach Boys Album

This Charleston-bred, Nashville-resident band continues to be the foremost exponent of the Beach Boys sound. But not the surf-and-drag singles-sound of the Beach Boys c. ’63-’64, but rather the album sounds of Brian Wilson’s growing compositional depth of ’65-onward. Add dashes of Burt Bacharach, Curt Boettcher and Paul Williams, and you have a sense of the group’s sophistication. Few have so thoroughly imbibed the sunshine that flowed through Brian Wilson in the mid-to-late-60s as Explorers Club vocalist, songwriter and arranger Jason Brewer. When he sings “’California’s Callin’ Ya’,” you can hear Wilson’s imagery calling the South Carolinian like a sea siren. The harmonies are lush and warm, the arrangements multifaceted, the album cover an homage to Friends, and the indie record label – Goldstar – a direct allusion to the craft Brian Wilson laid into everything he produced. The spot-on evocation of late-60s Beach Boys might appeal as a parlor trick if it weren’t so beautifully crafted and so incredibly heartfelt. You can’t help but smile as this music washes over you like a warm summer wave. [©2016 Hyperbolium]