Tony Marsico - Sleepwalker (Rum Bar)

Bassist/songwriter Tony Marsico’s long and varied career stretches back to his membership in pioneering Chicano punk band the Plugz, eventually encompassing work with Bob Dylan, Matthew Sweet, Neil Young, and tons of others. He also co-founded L.A. rock & rollers the Cruzados, a band he still leads today as its sole original member. Sleepwalker , his latest work as a solo artist, reveals a sixties-derived power pop jones and an absolutely winsome singing voice. Accompanied by guitarist Jonathan Lea from the Jigsaw Seen and Cruzados drummer Rob Klonel, Marsico breaks out the 12-strings for “Turn On Your Love Light” (which somehow manages to keep that moldy imagery sounding fresh) and title track (produced and harmonized by old pal Carla Olson), turns up the r’n’r heat in “Rocket Girl,” and soaks himself in sweetness for the lovely “Guilty of That.” He closes the EP with a faithful cover of the Roky Erickson gem “Starry Eyes,” which lays out his pop & roll intentions as well as anything he wrote himself. Alongside the artistic renaissance of the Cruzados, Sleepwalker shows Marsico to be a perfectly modern traditionalist.