Album Review: Eyelids

The members of Eyelids have never played coy about what they are: Five rock-'n'-roll lifers paying homage to their record collections. 854, the band's 2014 debut, made plain its devotion to the janglier factions of '80s underground pop. In case you missed it, the group spells it out on its new self-titled EP, pairing two originals with two covers and bringing in Peter Buck to produce—the arpeggios have never sounded so luminous.

But there’s more than just pretty guitars and wounded melodies in Eyelids’ DNA. While the midsection of the EP—the light and lovely “Broken Continue” and “Only Time Will Tell,” a trembling John Cale ballad—is an extension of 854’s gentle sadness, the band lets its rougher edges show in the bookends. Opener “Bound to Let You Down” matches bummer lyrics to the brightest chorus and most exuberant arrangement it’s managed yet. And on the concluding “Halloween,” a five-minute firewall of white-heat fuzz from the first album by psychedelic stalwart the Dream Syndicate, it stomps the distortion pedal harder than ever before, drawing out the original’s Velvet Underground worship and cranking it into the red. A purchase of the record on vinyl also begets a download card featuring three bonus live videos, including a performance of “Hey Joe” with guest star Stephen Malkmus—proof that, while Eyelids prefers exalting its idols, it’s not against killing them on occasion. 

SEE IT: Eyelids plays The Secret Society, 116 NE Russell St., with Phantom Ships and Wimps, on Friday, June 26. 9 pm. $10. 21+.

WWeek 2015