"Pacific Standard Time" by Velvet Starlings Sets a High Standard for So-Cal Retro Rock
Loud and crisp, like a seagull discovering a half-full espresso in a trash can, Velvet Starlings come out swinging on their most recent record, "Pacific Standard Time" (PST). Released in the summer of 2023, Velvet Starlings flies their listeners through myriad waves of time and space with songs inspired by psychedelic, progressive, and garage rock from across the decades but delivered in a refreshing and tributary sense rather than derivative way.
The album's songwriting is rooted in the traditional structures of 60's rock established by The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and The Monkees. It's as if those bands had walked into a modern studio and been told to do whatever they wanted with the unfamiliar, almost alien recording technology.
The band is fronted and driven by Christian Gisborne, a wizard behind the guitar, a banshee behind the mic, and an endlessly creative force behind the songwriting. Despite multiple personnel changes and braving the COVID pandemic, Gisborne has kept the band on their feet and running with exciting records like "Pacific Standard Time" and 2021's "Technicolor Shakedown."
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The record opens with the titular track, "Pacific Standard Time," a gritty, distorted celebration of love that combines the loud, pounding chords of Nirvana with the bubbly lyrics of The Beach Boys and the instrumental passages and bridges of The Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever." The composition jumps across this rock' n' roll diaspora at a rapid-fire pace but homogenizes them seamlessly, creating a unique sound that screams "Velvet Starlings," setting the tone for the rest of the record.
With a mind-bending transition into the next track, something becomes incredibly evident: the intentionality behind the production and recording technique. What can initially sound like a cacophonous mess is a deliberate attempt to carry the listener from one song to the next and create a soundscape that completely submerges the listener into the album. Screaming guitars, smashing cymbals, and fractal-like feedback keep the momentum of the album moving and fills up the empty space that could alternatively break the pace of the album.
But the Starlings are relentless, diving straight into "Bullfight," a galloping surf-rock jam that alternates between mosh-pit-inducing verses and half-speed refrains of technicolor euphoria. These choruses are mind-bendingly teleportative and showcase the instrumental virtuosity of the band. The guitar is ripping across octaves, the drums, in a half-time beat, are full and expansive, and it's all floating on top of an iridescent river of synths provided by the bass and keyboards. The music is colorful and varied, keeping me on my toes for a never-ending deluge that is the sonic equivalent of white-water rafting on LSD.
A key component of the Velvet Starlings that stays at the forefront of their style is the overwhelming amount of distortion, projecting ripples across the entire project. Whether it's Gisborne's voice, his guitar, or the shining cymbals, everything is distorted to a maximum without ever going as far as clipping or going too far off the handle. Instead of being a sign of poor recording or inexperience, it's embraced as a signature element of their sound and used as such, refining and supporting the intentionality of every sound on the record.
The Starlings find their groove going into "HG Wells" and "Cannonball." Both tracks have the appeal of being stand-out hits or singles but still feel crucial to maintaining the pace and integrity of the record. The energy is high, and thanks to the rhythm the band has established with this track list, the energy is sustainable. Credit here is due not only to the band's stellar performances, but specifically the dexterity and ingenuity of the drumming. There's a lot of rhythmic diversity coming from the drums that helps maneuver and maintain the pace. Yet, it's all played with an undeniable ferocity, like the cave-man style of Meg White (The White Stripes) meets the expressiveness of John Bonham (Led Zeppelin), with the refinement of Stewart Copeland (The Police).
The band remains extraordinarily consistent on the next tracks, "Amaz0n Prime," "All About You," and "Cause a Commotion." The songs are full of face-melting instrumentals and ear-shredding vocals, and the band starts to wear their influences a bit more on their sleeve. "All About You" is undeniably like a Doors song, and "Cause a Commotion" emerges as one of the tamer Radiohead tracks from their early career.
Despite these songs' apparent influences, they fulfill their roles in the album by providing diversity but staying consistent with the album's aesthetic and 90-mile-per-hour momentum; it never gets boring or disinteresting. In fact, the energy is so well maintained that when the final track, "The Reckoning," ends, I almost can't believe it's over. The album definitely never wears out its welcome, and the abrupt end leaves me wishing for more.
Clocking in at just about 29 minutes, the Velvet Starlings are able to deliver a holistic and full-sounding collection of songs with "Pacific Standard Time." With a new album expected to drop in 2025, we can look forward to singles and music videos teasing a new creative direction. Will they be able to maintain the energy? Should we be expecting something different? Will the seagull find another half-finished espresso or a maybe full can of Monster energy? Who knows, but I've got the caffeine shakes and am ready to find out.
