Cassette Revew: Jayes Caitlin "XS EYES & EARS"

[$10 // Edition of 70 // https://xs-eyes-and-ears.bandcamp.com/album/xs-eyes-ears] 

"XS EYES & EARS" begins with a cover of the "Star Spangled Banner" and it is done in a manner that has a sort of electronic xylophone feel to it.   When I first pressed play on this cassette I wasn't paying it that much attention in terms of looking at the song titles or anything- I was just focused on the music- and so when I heard this I did have to look it up to confirm that it was the cover and not just something sounded too familiar.

Parts of this cassette sound like they could be from an Illuminated Paths release in that electronic way, but they also channel bands like Spoon.   There are electric guitar chord crunches and it comes off somewhere between Daniel Johnston and the Flaming Lips at times also.    With psychedelic swirls it makes the transition from bedroom pop rock (or something of the home recording genre) to that of High Pop or perhaps something from the OSR Tapes catalog which is more of a garage/dreamy type of feel.   

Vocally, Neil Young can come out in this at times as well and at times I do want to start singing "This is ground control to Major Tom" for whatever reason.   I can't remember the last time I heard that song and yet it keeps popping into my head.   Should I look into that, you know, with a doctor?

Side B has starts off with space psych and then it gets dreamy again.    The songs continue that psychedelic sort of Flaming Lips only not vibe and some Zepplin is thrown in for good measure.     I can also just feel this overall sense of despair and sadness, which sort of sets the tone for at least this side but I'm always okay with that because you are never too old nor too young to be sad.   

Overall this just comes through like a dream.     It is the fact that it is dreamy, yes, but then the psych mixed in with that just makes this feel more like you are experiencing this music while dreaming and that is certainly not an easy task to accomplish.   In some words, it's like saying that you can feel like you're tripping while listening to this- or just on Cloud 9- without being under the influence of any illegal substances.    Music that makes you high?  Yeah, that should be in everyone's cassette player.