The Fat Angel Sings

Allah-Las performing “Artifact” live in the KEXP studio. Recorded December 5, 2014. The L.A. garage psych revivalists the Allah-Las didn’t mess around with their winning formula much on their second album, 2014’s Worship the Sun. Working with retro-leaning producer Nick Waterhouse again, the quartet can still effortlessly crank out chiming ballads that sound worthy of a strong volume of Pebbles, dish out moody mid-tempo tracks that have the feel of classic West Coast bands like the Chocolate Watchband, and take the occasional instrumental detour that come off like surf music that’s been dragged through some desert dust. It definitely feels like an extension of their debut album, only instead of being a re-tread, it’s an improvement. Stronger songs, vocals that lean a little less on the snotty side of the garage in favour of some nuance, and slightly softer focus production mean that the album is a slight bit of an improvement.