Press
Pay Heed to Lazy Preacher
OC Weekly, Dave Segal
Huntington Beach quartet Lazy Preacher imbue rock with a no-worries amble that evokes patchouli and artfully crafted bongs. But ditch any negative connotations you have regarding hippie music because these dudes write songs that ooze a sweet wistfulness, like orange marmalade spreading on whole wheat bread and without the smile-on-your-brother cloyingness. Their third and latest disc, Fall Asleep When Awaking, even contains a winning country rock cover of the Sex Pistols Pretty Vacant. The bulk of the album recalls the Grateful Dead's more stripped-down, less-bombastic moments and Beachwood Sparks™ melting-euphoria melodicism.
Fall Asleep When Awaking CD Review
OnlineRock.com, Christopher J. Ewing
After a joke song intro ("Same Old Song"), Lazy Preacher reheat their own game, by sounding at once like a vintage Velvet Underground cut and a brand new Shins B-side on "Evolve Anyway." Plaintive vocals linger amidst a toiling stream of acoustic guitar tinkerings and a subliminally minimal rhythm track as the slight, but catchy chorus attacks Bible-belt evolution hardliners with the refrain, "The truth is plain as day / We evolve anyway." Twee guitars and sing-songy verses abound, making for an American counterpoint to Sub Pop’s acid folk funkateers Jennifer Gentle.
While the consistently faint and ubiquitous acoustic guitars do at times try the patience on an album that plays a few of its notes a bit too often, moments of originality continually bob to the surface to ignite excitement: be it a swirling pan flute, a raga guest attack (by someone named Mr. Ganjahmon no less) or a burst of Flaming Lips-style absurdism ("My jesus smoking cocaine") on "Circling Babble Hurts." By the time Lazy Preacher lurches into a hill-billy slash-and-burn cover of the Sex Pistols "Pretty Vacant" its obvious nothing is sacred and everything is set to implode. In a good way.
Favorite Track: "Evolve Anyway"
The Promise
thepromiselive.blogspot.com
"...the music is good enough to warrant many listens...there are bits of country and alternative and reggae all wrapped up with some fascinating lyrics and catchy melodies. Well worth the effort. Take it." - The Promise [thepromiselive.blogspot.com]
