After attracting attention a couple of years ago for bringing about the return of 1960s-inspired guitar pop, Los Angeles’s Allah-Las could be entitled to feel a bit miffed that their former support band, Temples, have stolen their thunder. It’s hard to listen to the young quartet’s second album without feeling that their British counterparts are doing a similar thing, but with more robust grooves and more populist songs. The comparison isn’t helped by the fact that Allah-Las have shifted from their debut’s 1965 vintage guitar pop towards core Temples territory: reproduction late-60s west-coast psychedelic pop. Still, while there are enough Byrdsy jangling guitars to suggest the Allahs sleep in Paisley shirts, their time transporter hasn’t run aground. Every Girl could be a lost mid-60s Stones song, while Felt’s evergreen daze audibly inspires the hazily beautiful Yemeni Jade. There’s a definite progression in the songwriting and the tunes are soaked in the kind of timeless California sunshine you just don’t get from Brits.
