More than 20 years after their exciting self-titled debut LP, Californian rock ‘n’ roll band The Richmond Sluts are back with their third full-length album, appropriately titled Psychoactive Sounds. In 12 new songs, founding members Shea Roberts (vocals, guitar, percussion, bass) and Chris Beltran (bass, guitar), now together with John Tyree (drums), Jesse Nichols (guitar, vocals) and Justin Lynn (piano, organ, vocals), prove that they still know how to entertain fans of good music. They cover Ray Charles’ I Don’t Need No Doctor, but their own tracks are just as strong. This is quite intense but (largely) danceable garage rock with psych influences, where Lynn’s swinging organ provides an extra dimension next to the screaming guitars and heartfelt vocals. “Can the king of mind // Somehow slip // To show you things // That can make you trip”, they wonder in Who Knew. I guess they answer that question themselves with their fascinating sound.
Psychoactive Sounds is out now digitally via Rock Box Records.