Unknown Mortal Orchestra: s/t

Label: Fat Possum

Here's one to slot into your hypnagogic-pop shelf -- not too close to Ariel Pink but, you know (between P and U, I suppose). Unknown Mortal Orchestra began as a sort-of studio project based around New Zealander Ruban Neilson, whose pop influences span the '60s, '70s and '80s. Now based in Portland, OR, and with a sharp-edged rhythm section backing him, Neilson's songs as Unknown Mortal Orchestra come to life. "Nerve Damage!" sounds like a glam hit shot through an AM radio, with a guitar part divinely born of the '60s garage scene. "Bicycle" suggests a tune that Thee Oh Sees' John Dwyer hasn't gotten around to writing yet, a Beatlesque reverie with a fuzzy, fake-lo-fi veneer. While pop nuggets lurk everywhere on this debut, the surface is everything to Unknown Mortal Orchestra: the production values, alternately cloudy and sunny, cast Neilson's songs into the sort of timelessness that can't be bought, only crafted.