Galactic Fuzz blend rock, punk and psychedelia with new single ‘Transparent’

Watch out for Galactic Fuzz. The Miami-based trio, originally founded in 2019, have been working out on refining their sound – a heady mix of retro psychedelic pop, dirty garage rock, and just a hint of punk, with a cleverly tuned production holding it on together – and are about to unleash onto the world their self-titled debut album. 

Anyone who’s eager for a taste of what’s to come can start with their most recent release, ‘Transparent’, a beautifully ambitious track that does not shy away from complexity of composition and which is a masterful example of how something sounding fresh and new can arise from an expertly crafted blend of contamination. 

It is a track that looks both back – to the glories of 70s psychedelia, for sure, but also to the thrumming rhythm sections of classic grunge, and the drone of some punk vocals – and forward, channeling a sound veined with electronica and firmly projected into the future.

It is, also, a track that almost commands multiple listens. Perhaps the most remarkable feature is exactly how much is in there, and this in spite of the song being eminently listenable and easy on the ear. Short as it is, standing at less than three minutes of total runtime, it is a finely tuned mechanism of many moving parts, screeching into motion with an intro that is drawn straight from the purest classic rock, then diving into an overlap of full-bodied guitar sounds and broad, echoing vocals before launching into an instrumental bridge with a sharp leading riff which would not be out of place in a classic hard rock song. By the time the song powers down into its final fade, the impression is almost that of a jukebox experience, summoning a whole atmosphere – throw in an echo of Nirvana and perhaps even a hint of the Beach Boys and you will see how pleasingly unexpected the influences woven into this track can be.

For all that it sounds like a song you may have always known, almost from a time out of time, due to its many astute callbacks to much-loved genres and familiar voices, the single succeeds in smoothly establishing what Galactic Fuzz’s own sound aims to achieve, and there is a spaced-out, floating feeling to it that is in a sense a perfect match for the band’s name – there is both something spacey and something fuzzy to it. 

There is, also, remarkable confidence in both songwriting, delivery, and production which makes ‘Transparent’ feel very much like a work onto itself and not just a first peek into what we might find in the debut album to come. Yet if the record contains more tracks that are as cleverly crafted and self-accomplished as this, it promises to be a listen both memorable and refreshing.

Chiara Strazzulla

@cstrazzull

Image: ‘Transparent’ Official Single Cover