A Small Pocket of Pure Spirit

Silver Sunshine's self-titled debut album was at its best when the group stuck close to its influences — the tough end of British psychedelia like the Move, the Who, and Pink Floyd. The follow-up EP, A Small Pocket of Pure Spirit, is also heavily influenced by the same era and is just as successful in dragging the past into the present. The album dragged in spots due to a couple of weak songs. No similar problems here as all five songs are quite good and varied. The opening "144,000" sounds like it could have come from the album, and if it had, it would have been among the best songs there with its lighter-waving chorus and electric guitar work. "She's the Reason," a bouncy Zombies-influenced ballad, would have been a standout too. A nice surprise is the lovely "Another Day," which is a pastoral acoustic ballad with gorgeous fake strings and vocal harmonies that shows a new dimension to the band. Only the instrumental throwaway "Hiroshima Never Again" fails to impress. Silver Sunshine don't have the luxury of being on a label like Rainbow Quartz or Not Lame, which seem to be repositories for bands with similar influences. They do have the distinction of being better than most of them, however. Hopefully fans of the style will look outside their narrow boundaries and give the group a chance. They will most likely be quite impressed.