Indianapolis psych-pop band Radar Gold challenge the limits of psychedelic rock with their adventurous sophomore album, ‘Fortune Teller.’

Stream: ‘Fortune Teller’ – Radar Gold

<a href="https://radargold.bandcamp.com/album/fortune-teller">Fortune Teller by Radar Gold</a>

There’s a new sound spilling out of the cafes of Indianapolis.

Rolling off thin strands of magnetic tape inside handmade cassettes, Fortune Teller, the sophomore album of local psych-pop group Radar Gold, is taking the city by storm. This quartet, based out of the Irvington neighborhood on the city’s near East Side, seems to have gone from another underground act playing the local indie venues to an Indianapolis staple overnight. Suddenly, you can hear their music being played inside the chic coffee shops here in Broad Ripple and find their record for sale in all of the music community’s favorite gathering places; they were even invited to do a small studio session with WFYI, a local news station. This rapid ascent from the subterranean world of unknown bands has left this writer wondering: Who is Radar Gold, and what is this new album all about?

Fortune Teller - Radar Gold — Fortune Teller – Radar Gold

Radar Gold was founded by Emma and Nic Clark, the power couple covering the band’s bass, guitar, and vocals. These two lovebirds met through mutual friends at a party in 2012. As the relationship bloomed, so too did a series of bands that would end with Radar Gold. Along the way, the couple picked up guitarist Nick Smith and drummer Jacob Kozlowski to fill out their sound. The end result was the band’s debut album Planet Sings, which was released in 2020, a thirteen-track psych-pop record that the band describes as “high-energy, danceable drums and bass combined with sing-along melodies and infused with more complex psychedelic textures.”

Planet Sings laid the groundwork for Fortune Teller, but, as the band told this writer, the new album “lends us a freedom that wasn’t present on Planet Sings.” This is evident in the way that Fortune Teller shuns many of the archetypical psychedelic elements that are present on Planet Sings in favor of a more varied, exploratory sound.

Take, for example, the keys and synthesizers that dominate this album. They lack that warbly, overdriven Haight-Ashbury sound that you tend to expect from psychedelic rock, in which it sounds like the band is trying to make whatever hardware they have available to their key player sound as close to a Hammond B-40 as possible. What we get here is much more akin to electronica than psychedelia, generally sharp with low sustain, making the songs easy to dance to. You may also want to consider the vocals, which aren’t reminiscent of the jaunty melodies or piercing testimonials of the average psych song. Emma’s vocal performance is flowing and elegant. Clark has a level of control over her voice that you wouldn’t expect from a rock singer but instead from someone intent on making it in theater. Of course, it’s hard to sit here and make sweeping, generalizing statements about the album when each song has so much individual personality to offer. Look no further than one of my favorite tracks, “Iron Hands,” for evidence of this.

This song starts with an oscillating guitar riff that lures you in. That is soon accompanied by a second, slightly surf-toned guitar plucking away in the background, as well as a meaty bass line from Nic. The cadence of the vocals here mirrors that of the second plucking guitar, following it up and down in pitch as it swells and recedes with the chorus. The song is a love letter to a partner who is succeeding in pursuing their passions. This is made clear early in the song by the verse, “Make the sounds you always do / Iron hands / Iron hands.” From this we can gather that “Iron Hands” refers to one of the two Clarks, depending on whose perspective you’re listening to the song from, wailing away on their ax and finding prosperity in the musical ambitions that their relationship is founded upon.

Worth mentioning also is “The Veil,” a track from Fortune Teller, which breaks away from the psych-pop almost completely. This one is all light acoustic guitars and gentle beats, heavily reminiscent of something from the 2010s garage rock revival. It’s got sort of a dreamy sound, which I wouldn’t go so far as to call lo-fi; the production quality is too high, but it is certainly inspired by such tunes. It’s a less intense side of Radar Gold that we haven’t seen often before, a goal the band expressed during our conversation: “We focused more on ballads and pop songs and took what we had created with Planet Sings and showed a softer side.”

Don’t get the idea, however, that Radar Gold dropped all ties to psychedelic rock with this new album. The record’s sixth track, “Space Boss,” is pure psychedelia. Circling synth loops, wah-laden guitars, and a gravelly bass line are broken up by sudden cries from a guitar with a more crisp tone that comes lashing out of the static fuzz like a furious wild boar from the undergrowth. While it may not be what’s hip in psychedelic music today, it would fit in with classics from the 2010s Aussie psych-rock scene, such as “Rattlesnake” by King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard.

The second album is one of the most pivotal in a band’s career. To write one solid record is a feat, but to do it twice is evidence of a group’s command of their craft.

Radar Gold knocked it out of the park with Fortune Teller, delivering exactly what it is that fans want to hear from a second release. They expanded their sound without veering so far from their foundations as to corrupt what defines the band. They play to their strong suits: Emma’s graceful vocal performances, a tight rhythm section, and powerful guitar playing, while not fearing the idea of trying new things like implementing a banjo in “Seasons” or having a crack at a Robyn-esque electronic dance song with “Robogorgon.” The record is a collection of songs inspired by love, loathing, and partying.

The band put it best when they called Fortune Teller a “psych-pop soap opera.” From start to finish, it’s nothing but wild synths, haunting melodies, and ripping guitars. Everything that makes psychedelic rock the phenomenon that it is, with plenty of out-there twists and tricks peppered in for texture.

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