Eamon Ra - Dunce Witch Snowman (self-released)

The latest avatar of a recent mini-revival of psych/power/folk pop revival (see: Jacco Gardner, Nolan Potter), Eamon Francis Nordquist AKA Eamon Ra shows a great deal of talent and smarts on his second album Dunce Witch Snowman. A virtual one-man band, lacking only the confidence to play his own drums (a state of affairs that we bet won’t last long), Ra crafts arrangements around acoustic guitars, Mellotron, vibes, and a tasteful rhythm section that emote in a vaguely mystic way, couching their hooks and verbal whimsy in a cloud of sweet-smelling smoke of unknown origin. The crafty Ra isn’t trying to seduce us into some pagan ritual, however – he just likes a little enigma alongside his pop classicism. The upbeat raves of “Shelter Skelter” and “Up and At Em” bop alongside moodier fare like “On the Periphery” and the title track, each smoothly transitioning to the other. “I dream all day,” Ra declares in “On Holiday,” but he’s the melodic talents and organic skill to translate those dreams into recorded reality for our undisputed pleasure.