Rocking on the Sea

With their third full-length album, Cannibal Sea, The Essex Green once again sound like they’ve raided their parents’ LP collections, appropriating their best parts to create a gorgeous pastiche of soft rock, psychedelia, Motown, and folk. But the apparent schizophrenia is held in check, and Cannibal Sea is a strong and cohesive album. Here they explore the themes of travel, exploration, and the desire for a quiet retreat amid the pressures of city life; they yearn to break free from the exhausting confines of city life, and move to the open water. The pop rocker, “Don’t Know Why (You Stay),” sounds like the result of a late-night jam session of The Cars and Rick Springfield. In the somber “Penny & Jack,” singers Sasha Bell and Christopher Ziter trade verses and harmonize beautifully in the choruses, and in the process find an unlikely niche between The Cure and The Human League. “Snakes in the Grass” is Donovan meets Sergeant Pepper-era Beatles. “Uniform” answers the question of what The Mamas and Papas would sound like if Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval joined their family.