“By stepping into the past, Particle Wave has conjured up its vision for the future.” (from band bio)

When long-time friends Chase Harris, Brian Arthurs and Bryce Stoddart teamed up with songwriter Greg Maechling in 2006, Particle Wave began its journey through the oceans of sound.

With two albums under their belt, this LA based quartet is back with a new record, Grand Unifier.

Particle Wave reconvened in late 2013 at New Monkey Studios in Van Nuys, California. This was the site of their first release, 2009’s Interference Pattern. In the spirit of staying familiar, the band brought back producer Nick Luca who also worked on that first project.

The result was a comfortable vibe that helped the band focus on creating their most challenging recording to date.

Grand Unifier is a wave of enlightening psych-garage-surf-gaze-rock that pays homage to the band’s classic rock roots while delivering a unique blend of noises, grooves, and melodies to create a modern garage rock soundscape.

These 11 songs make me think of Pink Floyd jamming with the Beach Boys and Wilco in the SoCal surf while trying to decide if bringing in Nick Cave from the Bad Seeds would be a good idea.

This album is relaxing, bittersweet, complex yet simple, but somehow remains well balanced. It is quite the experience.

Grand Unifier does not drop until March 25, 2014 but you can pre-order on Bandcamp and check out the previous two albums on Particle Wave’s website.

After that, go connect with the band on Facebook or Twitter.