Yes On Blood

San Francisco’s The Mallard sounds like a close sibling of that city’s Thee Oh Sees. Yet while The Mallard does reside on Castle Face Records (the label run by Thee Oh Sees’ John Dwyer), they don’t share members. This trio’s take on reverb-drenched, gritty-yet-poppy psych-punk simply fits Dwyer’s musical vision (as do all the Castle Face bands), and it shares Thee Oh Sees’ affinity for groove-digging, woozy, female-accented sounds that ooze and roil. Guitarist/vocalist Greer McGettrick is the leading force and songwriter, as drummer Dylan Tidyman-Jones stands and bashes drums with unerring, martial command and Dylan Edrich keeps everything glued together with bass lines that thrum and ring like rubber coils. McGettrick’s guitar often goes into surf territory, and—as it does on “Intro”—that seemingly familiar trope takes on a whole new tone when surrounded by the mayhem of screeching electronics or hissing distortion. Listening to “Vines” or “Fog” conjures a blissful aural concoction of The Cramps, Beat Happening, and The 13th Floor Elevators, and for some of us that’s just heaven.