Sherpa have been making a bit of a splash over the past year, playing regularly in Auckland (with the occasional adventure to the other parts of the country), supporting touring international acts, getting their catchy tunes played regularly on local radio and building a base of loyal fans Now, all that hard work has come to fruition with the release of their debut album Lesser Flamingo, and it’s an album that’s sure to cement their already strong reputation for fun music and solid songwriting.
It’s not often that an album comes along that invokes such strong feelings as this one does, but as soon as you put on Lesser Flamingo you just feel like everything’s right in the world, no matter what’s going on around you; their music envelopes you in warm, fuzzy and instantly likeable tones.
It’s pop for people who don’t like the pop that floods mainstream radio, psychedelic rock for people who aren’t into psychedelia. It’s light, but never lacking substance and like their live shows, it’s a whole lot of fun to listen to. While the band claim a psychedelic sound, think the Beatles psychedelic, rather than the Grateful Dead.
Indeed, their sound harks back to the early 70’s, on tracks like ‘Lunar Bats’ and ‘Turtle’ in particular, but it never really seems overly retro, using that sound as a reference for musical exploration instead of the foundation of their own sound. In fact, there’s a very “now” feel to the whole thing, but never more so than on ‘Tree’, with its in-your- face basslines and catchy hooks.
Auckland has been seeing and hearing a lot of Sherpa in the past year or so, but with the release of Lesser Flamingo, it’s time for the rest of the country to catch up.
