Michael Hann 

The Sufis: The Sufis – review

It's impossible to avoid Pink Floyd comparisons, so beholden are the Sufis to the sound of 1967, but that's OK if you like that sort of thing, writes Michael Hann
  
  


Like the Paperhead, their companions in Nashville's underground garage/psychedlia scene, the Sufis' UK label is Corneshop's Ample Play imprint. Also like the Paperhead, they possess a desire to sound as much like the first Pink Floyd album as is possible without being sued by the estate of Syd Barrett. So Lemming Circle Dance is their Interstellar Overdrive, a wigged-out improvisation in search of space. Opener Where Did She Go, with a reedy organ line wobbling over bashed guitar and wide-eyed harmonies, is one of the pop excursions – See Emily Play perhaps. It is, genuinely, impossible to avoid the comparison. It's just a shame there's no equivalent of Lucifer Sam. Things get a little less Floyd in the second half, but the music keeps its distance from the present, never dipping a toe beyond the styles of 1967. One for genre fans only, but wearers of paisley shirts and chelsea boots will have a spring in their cuban heels after hearing the Sufis.

 

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