Impressionistic young auteur Nicolaas Zwart honed his band’s wistful sound while interning at the studio of K Records founder Calvin Johnson, and received credit at Evergreen State College for touring behind Desolation Wilderness’ 2008 debut. His second album delivers fleeting moments of bliss, like a beach bum’s opiate dreams. Echo and reverb subdue layers of Zwart’s unhinged guitars and keyboards as he recounts road trips down U.S. 101. The high-water mark: “San Francisco 2 a.m.,” a hazy freak-out with Deerhunter’s ambience and the Ventures’ sunny, surf-rock twang.
