New Zealand’s psych-pop comboThe Ruby Suns is ready with their second album, "Sea Lion", the follow-up to their brilliant self-titled debut from 2005. Their debut is still one of my favourite albums, – filled with wonderful melodies, Beach Boys-harmonies, psychedelic sounds and interesting arrangements. The experimentation with sound were definitely present, but the focus seemed to be on the melodies.

On "Sea Lion" it seems like they’ve done the opposite. "The Ruby Suns" was not a typical pop-album, and it has some strange moments, but it was always easy to listen to. "Sea Lion" is not always that easy. The melodies and the harmonies are there, but they are not as obvious and intuituve as on the debut, and on some songs the experiments take over and leave the melodies far in the background.

There are a lot of dreamy, psychedelic elements on "Sea Lion", – vocals with flanger and echo, long reverbs, lots of weird noises, repetiitive melodies and sudden changes in the rhythms and the music. I expected something different, and must say that I was a bit disappointed when I first heard "Sea Lion". The album grows after a few listens, but I’m sitting here with a feeling that Ryan McPhun and his Ruby Suns have wanted to do too much on this album. I have listened a lot to the album, and I feel that too many of the tracks just flow through the speakers without leaving any traces. 

The single "Tane Mahuta", sung in Maori, is a wonderful song, – sounds like a party with  trumpets and a choir singing. The slow "Remember" also has a fine melody that stands out, and the atmosphere of the song is really great. Some of the album reminds me of Panda Bear’s experimental harmony-drones, but where Panda Bear manages to keep the focus throughout the album, I feel that The Ruby Suns is travelling without a map and without a goal. They want a lot, it seems, but all the ideas point in different directions.

I really wanted to like this album. I really wanted to tell you what a perfect album this is, but I can’t. I’m sorry for that, and still, I’m looking forward to the band’s third, – I know they can make wonderful music.