Almost a decade on from their formation, San Francisco, CA outfit LSD and the Search for God return with an EP to induce visions of mesmerising pools of ecstasy in their latest amalgamation of shimmery vocals and strong lo-fi guitars. Heaven Is a Place acts as a wonderful tribute to nineties shoegaze glory, and evidently hones influence from their tours alongside Colm O’Coissoig from My Bloody Valentine and Anton Newcombe from Brian Jonestown Massacre. While their material struggles to compete with the groundbreaking originality of earlier shoegaze bands, there is a sense that LSD and the Search for God are a group capable of mastering, demonstrated in the subtle transformation from their 2007 self-titled debut.

Opener ‘Heaven’ is My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless-esque, with powerful distorted guitars accompanied by the ethereal voices of Sandi Denton and Sophia Campbell, immediately setting the precedent for a strong collection of numbers to follow. Later ‘(I Don’t Think We Should) Take it Slow’, with lyrics full of confidence (‘Come on girl, I want to take you home’ in the opening lines) is reminiscent of Cocteau Twins’ ‘Heaven Or Las Vegas’ with a successful formula that continues to delight listeners with every repeated listen.

The wonderfully euphoric ‘Elizabeth’ is a poppier contrast to the accompanying numbers such as ‘Outer Space’, a track that easily could have been produced by Creation Records under the watchful eye of Alan McGee back in 1991. ‘Without You’ concludes the EP in powerful cataclysm of dream-like, whispered, indiscernible vocals and strong guitar surges floating on a bed of strong percussion and crashes of cymbals.

Jessica Heath