Napa Asylum

San Francisco’s fertile, poppy-dotted field of lo-fi psychedelia keeps blooming, and one of the earliest bands to, er, spread their seed is Sic Alps. Once a duo, they’ve added a second guitarist (Noel Von Harmonson of Comets On Fire) for their third album, and while it hasn’t made much of a change in their core sound — which varies wildly from shambling and spare to thick and dense — it has given them a slightly more solid foundation. Napa Asylum covers a lot of musical turf, and there is a tad more clarity making their summery, bongwater-drenched “pop” tunes like “Cement Surfboard” and “Occult Display,” their dirty blues freakouts like “The First White Man to Touch California Soil,” and their bad-trip implosions like “My My Lai” and “Trip Train” more memorable. “Zeppo Epp” sounds like an ancient cassette demo of a Flaming Lips song sketch, and the acoustic guitar sweetness of “Ball of Fame” and “Low Kid” offer welcome respite when things get heavy and dark (“Ranger” and “Nathan Livingston Maddox” are ... challenging). The title is likely a nod to a Northern California mental institution, which speaks clearly to the range of moods and timbres in these 22 tracks.