In what’s already been an ace season for ambiguously classic rock — Cass McCombs, Angel Olsen, Whitney — here comes the liquor-soaked cherry on top: Natural Child’s Okey Dokey. Though lesser-known, the Nashville three-piece is long-beloved, and their new LP is a masterpiece of style, skillfully harnessing acid-fried Southern rock to modern ends.
Since it’s on sale tomorrow, launching the same week as a campaign to pardon the exiled whistleblower Edward Snowden, you really can’t miss “NSA Blues,” sung from the perspective of a government peeper: Don’t mind if we watch your place, there’s always a camera pointed at your face/ We’ve seen all your cats, we know when you’re jerking off. “Sure Is Nice” is deeply romantic in an everyday-monogamy way, “Transcendental Meditation” is a clever take on the plight of a modern hippie, then the whole album goes out in a cloud of flutes. Every song is hilarious, every song is sad. It rips front to back.
