[rating=9.00]
Purveyors of their own take on psychedelia, The Green Pajamas have been plying their singular style for the better part of the past 30 years. Having carved something of a legendary stature in their native Seattle, the band remains a cult favorite as far as the world at large is concerned, having been denied the wider recognition their consistent craft ought to have brought by now. Nevertheless, each new album provides a welcome return for their fans and followers, and if To the End of the Sea seems slightly more subdued than some of their earlier entrees, it’s no less intriguing or engaging either.
Made up mostly of a kind of cosmic concoction, To the End of the Sea is all but immersed in atmospheric ambiance, casting a haunting and harrowing aura that wholly informs such songs such as “Will the Ships Go Down,” “Ten Million Light Years Away,” “Sea of Secrets” and “A Mouth Full of Honey.” The druggy demeanor may bring back hazy memories of late nights in the college dorm, with the waft of incense and dayglo designs informing the mood and the music, but given the fact that this is 2016 and responsibility rules, its tone becomes more suggestive of escapist entertainment. That’s much needed in this post election era, and that gives the soothing sounds of “Sea of Secrets,” “All of the Starry Sky,” “Anyone But Me,” and “Si Sigues La Luna (If You Follow the Moon)” an assured aura of meditation and mystique. What’s more, an occasional Beatle-esque design allows a song like “When Juliet Smiles” to cast a nostalgic note, all the more reason to celebrate The Green Pajamas’ celestial stance and retro revisionism.
If To The End of the Sea seems like an echo of another age, it’s also a welcome return to a time when adventure and experimentation went well beyond the mindless gimmickry and superfluous trappings found in today’s more pretentious pop. This is ambition of another kind, the supple effect of a more mesmerizing kind of music.
