The music of San Francisco’s Sarah Bethe Nelson seems airlifted in from a couple of different eras: a healthy dose of ‘60s touchstones mesh nicely with a ‘90s college rock sensibility. She may not be breaking new ground, but she’s taking the pieces and rearranging them beautifully.
Oh, Evolution comes on the heels of her 2016 debut, Fast Moving Clouds, and is a huge slice of nostalgia that somehow manages to forge its own path. In other words, it’s never lazily or carelessly derivative. On the opening track, “Hazy”, Nelson manages to carve out a delicious Beatlesque power-pop gem with gleaming chorus harmonies and jangly college rock guitars. While the album tends to veer off into different directions during its 40-minute run time, “Hazy” works as a mission statement, setting the scene for an album of glittering (if occasionally downbeat) pop/rock songcraft.
While Oh, Evolution often paints something of a gloomy face on ’60s hook-infested pop, there are times when the music is undeniably sunny: “I Don’t Care” has a positively playful demeanor, with simple guitar riffs meshing nicely with cheesy keyboard chords and Leslie speaker effects. “Bright Thing” brings a twangy country sensibility to the proceedings, with a simple shuffle beat providing buoyant accompaniment to Nelson’s peerless girl-group vocalizing. This kind of offbeat culture clash makes for plenty of unusual pairings that almost always work beautifully.
The relatively brief run time of Oh, Evolution not only caters to the current and refreshing trend of single-vinyl releases, it also trims the fat. Where in the past, many artists threw on anything and everything they could muster in order to justify 80 minutes of digital space, with only two sides of a record you can effectively self-edit. The one time when Nelson strays from solid, concise choices is on “Sugar Factory”, a plodding, droning number reminiscent of Velvet Underground at their most open-ended. It creates an interesting vibe but at seven minutes and change, it loses steam at roughly the halfway mark.
But these are minor gripes. You want an expertly crafted dream-pop ballad? “Face the Waves” is gauzy perfection, with slashing guitars and stately piano accompanying Nelson’s gentle vocals. “Out of My Reach” is lovely mid-tempo Byrds-inspired rock straight out of the Belly/Throwing Muses playbook (if we were currently in the ‘90s, Nelson would have no problem nailing a recording contract with 4AD).
Closing track “Deadbolt,” a guitar-heavy ballad almost as long as “Sugar Factory”, doesn’t run the risk of wearing out its welcome like that previous song. For one thing, it’s just a better song; it also has a much more palatable arrangement, combining sugary “la la la” and “ooooh” vocals with layers of distorted guitars reminiscent of Neil Young’s noisier Crazy Horse sessions. As the song winds down in its final minute, distortion and feedback squeal over aimless piano noodling, signifying the end of a wild, dreamy, circuitous musical ride. Sarah Bethe Nelson may have wrapped up another fine album, but she’s not done yet. I look forward to whatever else she has in store for us.