Listen to National Eye’s long-awaited new album Ramparts via Spotify
Onetime affiliates of Park the Van Records during the label’s mid-aughts stint in Philadelphia, The National Eye has been plugging away at its latest full-length, Ramparts, since 2008 or so.
| With live appearances scant and music kept secretive, it grew less and less clear whether the psychedelic rock five-piece would ever finish the album – or if it was even an active band. We knew they still worked together musically, since much of the lineup – including singer, guitarist and ‘fro-master Rick Flom as well as bassist Will Baggott – backs singer-songwriter Gretchen Lohse in her project Yellow Humphrey.
But what became of National Eye proper was anyone’s guess. Until this morning, when the band made a rare Facebook post to announce that Ramparts was finally complete and available online. You can listen to it in the Spotify player to your left, or download it at Amazon here. |
The echoing drum thwacks on “Long Ago a-Go-Go” are a fine way to guide us in, and within minutes we hear the band’s trademarl lush orchestrations, brightly layered vocal tracks – even a Beatles-esque detuned string section. You can hear the time they spent, and it’s very much worth it.. No word on whether this new release means a return to the stage, but one thing at a time, we suppose. You can keep tabs on National Eye at their Facebook page.