There are albums that are hard to classify in a particular genre, and then there are albums that seem to go out of the way to defy classification—records that bounce from style to style, skating through ballads, spacerock, freestyle jazz and harmony. “How to Make Ambient Sadcake” is one such record. Is it ambient? No. But thank God! Because it’s so much better than that.
The Sandwitches are an unholy trio of lo-fi pop women from San Francisco (where else) who took a collection of fairly straightforward Americana songs, and punched, pressed, pulled and kneaded them into something soft enough to push through a psychedelic hole. The harmonies are terrific. The songwriting, lyrically and structurally, is first class. The hooks are . . . Irregular, but the songs are catchy nonetheless.
The band can “regular” Americana , pop, throwback ’60s retro girlpop, and even experimental indie, often all at the same time. This wonderfully exciting record is what makes listening to music so much fun: Surprises, talent, and exhilaration.
Highest recommendation.
