Miles and Becca Robinson left Brooklyn, NYC in 2020 and moved to the Vermont countryside, got married, and built a studio in a two-hundred-year-old barn that they named “Freelandia”.
They have released two EPs ‘Little Hits’ in 2019, and ‘Choose Your Own Apocalypse’ in 2020 and are due to release their debut album `Stoned Weekend` this month. Miles sings vocals, plays guitar, bass, harmonica, and keys while Becca also sings and contributes bass, guitar, and harmonica as well. They have Pastor Greg Faison on drums and also Danny Meyer who plays saxophone and piano and Travis Rosenberg who adds pedal steel, both on two tracks.
The album opens with title track `Stoned Weekend` which begins a little off key before Miles vocals kick in and it becomes a more laid back dreamy rendition of seemingly wanting to get stoned and for it to never end. It almost sounds like a laid back version of T.Rex`s `Cosmic Dancer` meets The Beatles `Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds` at times. We have a more upbeat offering with `Missed Our Chance` where both Miles and Becca`s voices blend wonderfully together as this track evolves and a skewed almost psychedelic guitar riff adds it`s colour to the mix.
`Lemon Trees` has a much more Americana come folky vibe with Becca leading in on vocals before Miles joins and they entwine around each other on this quite gentle and enthrallingly wistful offering. The pedal steel inflections are a delight along with an understated guitar solo. There`s a more potent texture to `Linda’s Tripp` which becomes fairly mesmeric as both singers trade off each other against a background of fuzzy guitar chord riffs and a thumping drum beat.
`Little Do I Know` feels like something that could have been lifted from the Twin Peaks television series. It has a delightful almost resonating guitar riff and hypnotic drumbeat that lay a platform for Becca`s shimmering vocals and Miles complementary but much more quietly shared harmonies. The guitar bursts into life midway before adding a more accompanying feel later as piano keys come floating through. Pedal steel and a shook tambourine lead us into `Ben & Bongo` where Milles leads the vocals initially on this pure slice of charming Americana which will have you drifting into a state of blissful euphoria.
I dunno but for some reason `Blue Water` reminded me of an Americana tinged version of Lou Reed`s `Sweet Jane` with both vocalists really gelling as this track develops. Fuzzy guitar draws us into `Our December` which nigh on raced along at times with both singers adding their harmonic voices atop. It had a Gram Parsons feel about it at times.
`Wyld Chyld` returned us to a Twin Peaks kind of sensibility with that enchanting resonating guitar riff, steady drum heartbeat and Becca`s dreamy vocals floating over and around. The album closes out with `Still Stoned` a quite epic journey which begins with laughter before guitar chords and brushed drum cymbals guide us into a laid back kind of slaker continuation of the opening track but with that feel of schools out and we have the whole summer to look forward to.
There was so much to enjoy with `Stoned Weekend`. it`s a sort of laid back dreamy submission which enjoys some indie rock come Americana blends that will draw you in and wrap itself around you in such a comforting manner. The warmth of the vocals and the overall vibe of the album was as much of a drug as I needed to get high. I`ll leave it to you to do what you feel necessary.
Rating 8.5/10
