Apollo Sunshine

Shall Noise Upon

[4/5]

The Berklee College Of Music-trained prodigies in Apollo Sunshine have always put on a jaw-dropping live show, but their third full-length, Shall Noise Upon, is the first album to consistently contain songwriting equivalent to their technical prowess. The band have not abandoned their avant-garde tendencies, though, and the flawless pop track “666: The Coming Of The New World Government” still contains enough swirling feedback and backward guitar to keep it from sounding too much like the Shins. Instead, Apollo Sunshine have discovered a way to make everything from harmonica-fueled psych-folk (“Brotherhood Of Death”) to a stripped-down acoustic ballad (“Money”) work in an album that sounds timeless without the nostalgic clichés often associated with that adjective. Admittedly, minute-long psychedelic interludes like “Green Green Lawns Of Outer Space” initially may not seem accessible, but in the context of Shall Noise Upon the song is just another wonderful experiment. (WORLD’S FAIR) Jonah Bayer