The Asteroid No.4 – ‘Collide’ (2018)
It’s hard to believe that I’ve been riding with Asteroid #4 for two decades now, with their new album Collide celebrating those mystic years when they first washed my Philadelphia nights with their hypnotic watercolored jangling guitar driven emancipations, then up and moved themselves to California, the land of warmth and sunshine, where here with a limited edition gatefold on clear vinyl they’ve delivered an enticing postcard, suggesting that they are very happy with their tall glasses of fresh orange juice and girls in summer dresses all year long.
Collide is sonically layered, uncommonly innovative, laid back, drenched with mild reverb and swirling with comfort, all while embracing the listener with worthy lyrics … Asteroid #4 have indeed found that delicate balance, creating a series of songs that come off as half remembered hypnotic lucid dreams hovering just out of reach.
This is perhaps Asteroid #4’s most drifting psychedelic album to date, sweeping me back to romantically tripped out bygone days, where with my bedroom lights covered by paisley scarves I danced with the shadows that moved across my walls, lost in new thoughts, finding a new path, and becoming the person I am today, which is pretty much that same girl with Jeanie Shrimpton hair, Brian Jones red hip-hugger corduroy bellbottoms, and an excitement for all that lay ahead of me. In short, what Asteroid #4 have magically managed to do is to create that 60’s west coast vision afresh, giving me a reason to remember why my eyes followed the long orange fingers of the setting sun, where I imagined that star filled velvet nights enveloped everyone who like Asteroid 4 up and slid across the country, finding a new home and a new way of being at the water’s edge.
I promise, you’ll enjoy this shimmering delight of wondrous imagery lost to time, arriving at your door like a postcard from yourself to remind you with a new voice of those lush hazed and dream-filled years.
Limited to 500 copies as a gatefold on clear vinyl.
– Jenell Kesler
The Asteroid No.4 – ‘Collide’ (13 O’Clock Records 2018)
A truly beautiful album, the band keeps growing and each full album is their "best yet". Your review is spot on, this is headphones (remember those) material, on repeat play. for hours.