Opening with “A 1000 Days,” the album quickly introduces you to the ethereal funk of Strange Clouds. Fans of Pink Floyd, The Strokes, and maybe even The Mars Volta will find something to love here.

Listen to the whole album on BandCamp, or check out their single on YouTube here.

Unlike lesser psychedelic, prog, and experimental rock bands, Strange Clouds manages to create ambitious, atmospheric journeys that feel like a cohesive, meaningful trip through a bizarre-yet-beautiful landscape.

If the album has any shortcoming, it’s that it feels like it missed the cultural deadline. If this had been released in the 70’s or 80’s, it would no doubt be topping the charts (at least a few Best Of lists). Today, it suffers the challenge of trying to sound new and interesting in a genre that’s now about 50 years old.

But if you can get past that, and take it for what it is, the album is deeply lovable.

And although some of it may seem dated (including the phaser pedals and guitar solos), everything here is being done in earnest. It’s not a regurgitation of 70’s rock; it’s a modern album with a few tried-and-true tools.

The compositions are often mind-blowing and brilliant. Hit the City smacks you across the face with unexpected mountains and valleys.

As the album goes on, it stops surprising you. The songs never become bad or boring, but many of them could easily be mistaken for each other. For an album that’s an hour long, this amount of consistency is conspicuous.

Still, I’d rather hear 60 minutes of great songwriting than 30 minutes of surprising-yet-shallow tracks.

Put this on and turn up the volume. It’s a true rock album, with plenty of strangeness and uniqueness for music snobs to dig into.