Lotus Plaza - The Floodlight Collective (Kranky)

While Deerhunter might almost unanimously be thought of and acclaimed as pretty much the sole product of main man Bradford Cox, this first solo album from the band's guitarist Lockett Pundt gives many a hint that there could be more than one master of pop psychedelia at work in the Deerhunter camp. Operating under the Lotus Plaza alias, Pundt has created a wonderful 10 track, near-perfect 45 minute collection of multi-layered dream-pop beauty. With deep, reverb-soaked washes of guitar and synth and dreamy vocal echoes drifting through the spacious instrumental textures, this is a luscious, hazy, summer afternoon of a record, perfect for long journeys laid out on the grass going nowhere, with the setting sun burning warmly through your eyelids. Striking the balance between the ambience of Bradford Cox's solo Atlas Sound recordings and the more full-on shoegaze rock of Deerhunter, 'The Floodlight Collective' tackles both sides of this divide, moving from the catchy harmonic pop swirls of "Red Oak Way" and "Quicksand", through the soaring shoegaze of "What Grows?", complete with endless echoes of deeply-buried vocal reverb, to the kraut-psych synths of "Antoine" and the album's title track. With such consistently rich greatness coming from the Deerhunter camp, Lotus Plaza's "The Floodlight Collective" is yet more evidence that whatever it is they're putting in the water down in Atlanta, Georgia, it certainly seems to be doing the trick.

'The Floodlight Collective' is available now on Kranky.