The warm choogle of Heat Manager’s fittingly mellow debut album, “Relaxed American“, is the best harbinger for the oncoming spring that’ll reach your ears this season. The NYC-based band is a new outfit that includes Jake Rabinbach (guitar) and Jake Vest (bass) from High Time, one of the best and most eclectic Grateful Dead tribute bands to have ever taken the stage out east. Their years of breathing new life into the earthiest Dead jams certainly can be felt in the album’s stoned Americana vibes, yet their sonic tapestry is rich with a myriad of other more obscure, heady reference points.
Fans of cosmic American records, especially the first two One Eleven Heavy albums, and the unpretentious rock of David Nance need to sink their teeth into “Relaxed American“, as it’ll likely become a new favourite listen .
From jangly folk-rock sunshine to laid back psych-country twang and woolly, kosmische-affected jams with occasional surf guitar tones and garage grit, there is a wide plethora of sounds present in this album that truly speak to the group’s grand virtuosity.
Despite the vast spectrum of styles that have been melted down and mixed together here, the album flows beautifully, and goes down real smooth. All of the songs are packed with driving rhythms, tasty hooks and witty lyrics that satirize the realities of the music industry, These are tunes that you’ll be humming all day and want to hear over and over again.
released March 7th, 2025
Heat Manager is: Jake Rabinbach – Guitar, Jake Vest – Bass VI. Greg Faison – Drums
The Fat Angel Sings 