Psych-rock has not seen a debut this solid since Jesus and Mary Chain's Psychocandy. Originally a side project featuring members of the Distillers and Nerve Agents, California's Darker My Love break out with a sound no one was to expect from punk rockers. The sound is fuzzy, trippy, drowned in reverb, and guitar driven. The band has multiple psychedelic influences, ranging from the swirling melodies of Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine to the sometimes directionless drone of Brian Jonestown Massacre and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Noise-rock and shoegaze influences pervade the sound as well.

Highlights include the driving-rock track "Hello Traveler" and the mesmerizing "Opening," the obvious choice for an album intro. "Opening" features a guitar line bathed in feedback, but still allows for the listener to be swallowed in by the all-encompassing noise. "Hello Traveler" takes a kraut-rock foundation (driving, droning drums and bass) and makes it into a shimmering rock anthem, with exploding guitar sounds and swirling vocals. The single, ironically the last track of the album, "Summer Is Here," captures all of the sound from the previous songs and creates a height that the band never reached before.

Layered, textured music is making a huge comeback, and Darker My Love are reveling in all its trappings. With bands like Secret Machines, Serena Maneesh, and Darker My Love receiving press coverage from larger and larger media sources, the shoegazing and trippy sound may finally crack the charts that it usually reviles.