Brooklyn pop-rock quintet Ex Cops formed in 2011 by Brian Harding (ex-Hymns) and Amalie Bruun (ex-Minks), the duo self-released a short-run, homespun CD-EP of hazy, lo-fi recordings featuring Harding’s opaque bedroom-pop song writing juxtaposed with the duo’s sun-kissed harmonies. The pair continued to write new songs while simultaneously playing more live shows, now working as a proper five-piece rock band with the addition of good friends Kai Kennedy, Leif Huckman and Sam Bair.
Keeping a handful of Ex Cops’ early sessions in place, the newly expanded lineup took to the studio to record True Hallucinations with John Siket (Blonde Redhead, Yo La Tengo, Sonic Youth, etc.) sitting in the production chair. The results a mind-altering pop pill that maintains the intimate mood of the original group’s sound, but now presented in wide screen Technicolor.
The songs on True Hallucinations are effortlessly catchy, built from a timeless blend of gentle, somnambulant harmonies, chiming guitars, and loose swinging rhythms. You can detect influences ranging from vintage British and New Zealand indie pop (imagine the Chills covering Nick Lowe during “James”), to Factory Records atmospherics (“You Are a Lion, I Am a Lamb”), along with a good dose of classic power-pop and the guitar-heavy sound of Teenage Fanclub (“Ken,” “Separator”). Yet in spite of this list of influences and precursors, Ex Cops’ music is very much their own, sounding at once both classic and modern, their sugary pop songs enshrouded in a unique psychedelic haze.