Sic Alps' simple garage-rock is both enticing and uncomfortable. They approach classic melody in miniature, chipping nuggets off of Nuggets, and they never go far without an inviting little hook. But they don't let those hooks last long either. Their songs are spare and distant, reveling in negative space and moving with a deliberate, lopsided gait. This sonic personality is best encapsulated in Mike Donovan's singing, which is awkward and endearing. It sounds like he loves hooks but doesn't want to chase them, meditating on melodies rather than working himself up enough to hit the "right" notes.
All of which is why, despite the fact that they've ripped out some pretty great singles, Sic Alps make music that's best absorbed on full-length albums. As their odd tics, off notes, and bevy of stops and starts build up, the logic of their approach becomes clearer and more addictive. In that sense Napa Asylum, with 22 songs stretched over 45 minutes, is probably the best Sic Alps full-length so far. Two-chord ditties bump up against noisy distortion, quiet sketches draw out multi-voice harmonies, short lyrics snake through twangy jaunts. And it's all presented in a style that's less lo-fi than old-fi, as if Sic Alps were huddled around a single beat-up mic in a dusty 1950's studio.
The result is creativity doled out in rangy bursts. Take a three-strong stretch about halfway through Napa Asylum-- the slow, distorted, Royal Trux-like "Trip Train" slips into the bouncy, Beatles-esque "Ball of Fame", then into the sparse "Ranger", which mines tons of mood from basically two notes. Because they're all drenched in the trademark Sic Alps atmosphere-- never rushed, over-polished, or abrupt-- these stylistic shifts sound natural and uncontrived.
In fact, Napa Asylum is so rich, its peaks can be easy to miss. One particular highlight deserves isolation-- on "The First White Man to Touch California Soil", Donovan portrays California with what could be a celebration of his band's own outlook. "Now we're in this country living free/ And we got that same mentality/ How the Colorado used to flow/ Now your neighbor's greener grasses grow." It's the album's biggest, boldest track, buttressed by new member Noel Von Harmonson, bringing his knack for noise over from Comets on Fire. It's easy to imagine the other 21 songs here being that fleshed out, with instruments and textures added and verses and choruses repeated more than a few times. Sic Alps could probably do that version of themselves well, but their essential shaggy-dog personality might get obscured by so much activity. On Napa Asylum they've wisely stuck to their patient, understated approach-- and pretty much perfected it.
