Sharpe’s Magnetic Pull
Henry Hauser, Rock Critic, Berkeley, CA
Big thanks to Molly B. for snapping this great shot of psychedelic minstrel Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Edward Sharpe was sent down to Earth to “heal and save mankind…but he kept getting distracted by girls and falling in love.” Somehow, frontman ALex Ebert turned that half-baked premise into the best psychedelic folk album since Devendra’s Cripple Crow. Props!
As the band gets into character, Ebert appears in white jeans, loose eggshell blazer, pink silk shirt, and a scarlet scarf. His hips sway scandalously as Ebert’s shoulders bob fluidly to the building thump of the band’s percussionist. The music’s physically demands movement, thrusting the crowd into a jittery spasm. Transforming into Edward Sharp, without warning Ebert’s eyes are lit ablaze as a spiritual, sexual possession bursts from his joints. Shifting weight from tiptoe to tiptoe, the frontman spastically raises his arms to the sky, gyrates his pelvis, and in orgasmic rapture, leaps headlong into the audience.
Donovan-esqe narrative and refined satirical wit meet psychedelic melodies on “40 Day Dream.” Ebert, now crowd surfing barefoot, lets out a velvety warble in unison with his disciples, “I inhaled just a little bit / Now I got no fear of death / It’s the magical mystery kind!” Remarking on the “fucking miracle” that he was alive and playing Outside Lands, Ebert unleashed “Desert Song,” a blur of godlike echo and instrumental Armageddon. The enlightened demolition culminated at exactly 4:20 pm.
Hypnotizing chorus and alluring melody collide with wit and dramatic imagery in energetic “Home.” Ebert and girlfriend Jade Castrinos waltz around the stage, backed by a painfully catchy vocal melody and carefree, country whistle. Genre-blazing across alt-country, psychedelic, and neo-folk, Ed Sharpe cried “Love! Love! Love!” atop thousand part harmonies.
