Beachwood Sparks: The Tarnished Gold – review

Before Fleet Foxes made harmonies hip again, LA's Beachwood Sparks were the relatively unsung heroes of the languid, folksy West Coast cowboy troubadour scene. It was a decade too soon for their Laurel Canyon tributes to chime with the wider public. Now, of course, their first new music in 11 years sounds like a prescription for uncertain times, the evergreen sigh of pedal steel soft against the prang of semi-acoustic, both wistful and resolved. A minor key Mollusk is their most Fox-like moment, but the best bits of The Tarnished Gold hark further back to the Byrds for their sense of breezy acceptance.