The High Water Marks

Having shamelessly imitated ’60s British pop and ’70s LSD psychedelia (among other styles) for about a decade, it was only a matter of time until members of the collective formerly known as Elephant 6 would set its sights on the shaggy college rock that was all the rage when its members were cutting their musical teeth. The summer’s gone/It is done/It has got a number, guitarist and vocalist Per Ole Bratset (of Palermo) sings dismissively on “Queen of Verlaine,” one of 13 period clones on Songs About the Ocean. You figure it’s gotta be late August of 1994 or 1995 as loose-laced, Pavement-like Chuck Taylor guitar solos are pasted atop caffeinated, twee outlines, J. Mascis ‘tude, Rose Melberg icing and early Guided By Voices production values. Singer and guitarist Hilarie Sidney (Apples in Stereo, Secret Square) takes turns at the microphone and fakes it with a deceptive, out-of-time facility that can’t quite transcend the source material.