Hypnotic Nights

There's nobody in the band named Jeff; the Nashville-based garage rock duo JEFF the Brotherhood consists of brothers Jake and Jamin Orrall (formerly of the band Be Your Own Pet). Jake and Jamin are sons of country music hitmaker Robert Ellis Orrall. And even though the first song from 2012’s Hypnotic Nights is titled “Country Life,” it’s actually a confectionary blend of sticky power pop (à la Cheap Trick) and contemporary garage rock in the vein of Jack White or Jay Reatard. Hypnotic Nights is the duo’s first album for a major label, but the production still resonates with bite and grit. Dig the dirty distortion in “Sixpack”—one of the catchiest cuts here—or the vintage guitar fuzz in “Staring at the Wall.” The brothers Orrall are gifted at crafting catchy melodies; they can even pull them out of monotone drone-rockers like “Hypnotic Winter.” They close on a Joseph Byrd analog-manipulated cover of Black Sabbath’s “Changes.” The deluxe version kicks down an awe-inspiring, 11-and-a-half-minute cover of Hawkwind’s “Master of the Universe.”