Glassmaps is the solo project of Joel Stein, lead guitarist in the much-loved Howling Bells. After four successful albums with the band, the UK-based Australian has embarked on a new endeavour with the result, an album titled Strangely Addicted, due out later this year.

The record delivers melodic, punchy, pretty, infectious tunes coupled with fascinating psychedelic soundscapes. Autobiographical lyrics speak of universal themes of life, love and loss. The first taste comes in the shape of Summer Rain, a pugilistic blues-rock stomp with the sunny psych harmonics of its dreamy chorus and the insouciant twang of surf guitar. Stein’s swooping vocals muse on the concept of wanting to be saved from oneself, of blaming others for one’s own demons. “It’s about the voice in your head that tells you the things you don’t wanna hear,” says Joel, “a necessary evil without which we wouldn’t really know who we are.”

Stream it here.

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