Scope This Record: National Eye’s The Farthest Shore
Full disclosure: We’re tight bros with the Philly band National Eye since way back when. You may remember them from the super-early Philebrity spoof blog Celebridelphia, and you might also remember Eye singer/guitarist Rick Flom from our old podcast, “Today’s Vibe,” which we still miss oh-so-dearly. (If anyone wants to help start up a new Philebrity podcast, get at us. But it probably won’t be as good as “Today’s Vibe” was. How could it?) Anyway, yesterday, The Farthest Shore, the band’s third album came out on Park The Van Records — and it is far and away the best thing they’ve ever done. This is notable because, well, it’s been kind of a while since the band put out a record, and we were thinking, hey, maybe that’s it for these guys. The Farthest Shore proves how wrong that assumption was. What makes it so good? By the sounds of things, DRUGS. Well, not actually drug use, per se — I don’t think these cats really roll that way — but there is a thick, almost mahogany hashish patina of late-period pop psychedelia here that makes this record SERIOUS AUTUMNAL MELLOW GOLD. The vibes pop up in different ways on different songs, but on this one, “Dread Flight Of The Crimson Bee,” there is this wild intersection of Todd Rundgren vs. Warren Zevon vs. T. Rex vs. ELO that is undeniable. Dig:
And there’s more where that came from. So, yeah, The Farthest Shore. Just goes to show you never can tell.
