Listen to Mountains Move

Brooklyn dream pop outfit Heaven initially formed in late 2010. Matt Sumrow (Dean and Britta, The Comas, Ambulance LTD) and Mikey Jones (The Big Sleep, Swervedriver, Snowden), galvanized by
sessions backing Adam Franklin as a part of his Bolts of Melody band, both recording and subsequently touring 2010’s I Could Sleep for a Thousand Years, were inspired to compose and record some original songs of their own. The pair, Sumrow on guitar and vocals, and Jones on drums, eventually filled out their lineup with Ryan Lee Dunlap (Fan-Tan) on keyboards and Luke Hayden Senkbeil on bass. They’ve played numerous gigs honing their sound, including 2012’s SXSW, and an East Coast tour early last Spring in support of Swervedriver. Sonic teasers have been offered in the form of a split single with Adam Franklin and the Bolt of Melody, which was the world’s introduction to “Colors in the Whites of your Eyes,” and
their eponymous 7”, which featured “Mountains Move” and “Falling Apple.”

Their proper opening salvo has at last arrived in the form of their debut LP Telepathic Love. The album’s grounded by the Jones’ dynamic percussion locking in with Sumrow’s dazzling array of guitar effects, but ultimately song craft trumps structure here. From the opening “Colors in the Whites of Your Eyes,” with its serpentine guitar figure and wash of reverb cut from the cloth of halcyon shoegaze such as Ride and Lush, to the curdled psych groove of title-track “Telepathic Love,” a certain nascent verve is evinced, that of a band hitting an arresting stride, riding a lighthearted wave of innate propulsion and melodic inventiveness.

The record encompasses a vast emotional and sonic breadth, from the reverb drenched Jesus & Mary Chain indebted harmonies on the epic “Mountains Move,” to the wistful, Velvets-esque lullaby “Southern Rain,” to the strum und drang claustrophobic snarl of closing track “Centuries,” a number that could’ve wandered the cosmic plank from Spacemen 3’s The Perfect Prescription.

Formidable antecedents these are, but Heaven take this hodgepodge and recombine it into something idiosyncratically their own. It’s approachable as pop, but beneath the surface lurks vivid bursts and
blooms—dynamic fireworks displays of melodies, reverb, and synths—sonic explorations evoking sheer joy and abject sorrow. Invest the listens and you’ll find yourself enraptured by their thoroughly beguiling
world.