The Black Watch - Fromthing Somethat

Fromthing Somethat, the tongue-twister title of legendary L.A. dreampop/indiepop foursome, The Black Watch's nineteenth LP, comes from a mistake front man John Andrew Fredrick made whilst singing a line from the song The Lonesome Death of Mary Hansen. Cleverly self-effacing album titles have been a part of this serious band's aesthetic ever since 2011's well-received Led Zeppelin Five (along with such titles as Jiggery-Pokery, After the Gold Room, The Gospel According To John, and Magic Johnson). This record hops, skips, and jumps from dreamy-floaty (the opening number, St Fair Isle Sweater) to dance-y (the almost-disco of The Nothing That Is) to majestic (All I Know (Is That the Moon is Beautiful) to dark/ominous (Drip, Drip, Drip) and back again to dreamlike (For Always Then To Keep and the soaring closing lullaby I'm Not Hung Up). And yet it's all of a piece-a record that perhaps sounds like every 60's, 80's, or 90's guitar band you've ever loved and, well, unmistakably a The Black Watch record.