Lomita
Stress Echo (2005, Self-released)

On my initial dry run through this nine-track slab of aluminum, particularly the opening cut 'I Got a Feeling', I was compelled to pigeonhole Lomita as a samey but bouncy guitar-pop collective in the mold of Sloan, Rooney, or for that matter any one of dozens of trend du jour revivalists. As Stress Echo proceeds however the routine three-chord motif is gradually eschewed in favor of a woozy alchemy of ambient textures and surreal guitar tunings all wrapped snug as a bug in a malleable cocoon of psychedelic proportions. It's Sister-era Sonic Youth by way of Outrageous Cherry's cracked Mersey-pop and , although somewhat disappointingly, the aforementioned 'I Got a Feeling' isn't the Lennon-penned song of (almost) the same name and 'Green Eyes' sure ain't a new take on the Husker Du classic, Stress Echo by and large succeeds on it's own merits.

-Neal Agneta 10/25/05