VINYL FORMAT. We wish that we didn't have to tell you about the new Beachwood Sparks album. It'd be so much better if you just stumbled across it, put it in your backpack, and saved it for a solo drive through the desert, or maybe a late night working the graveyard shift, or a long night-flight across the country. Either way, it's gonna take time for the full effect of "Once We Were Trees" to sink in ? an album packed with so many hidden passages, spiraling stairways, and dark corners calls for a little extra attention.

Their second full-length release, "Once We Were Trees" picks up where the self-titled debut (released in March of 2000) left off, sensually absorbing the sounds and sights of a SoCal landscape while revisiting their Flying Burrito Brothers and Buffalo Springfield influences. From the opening swirls of "Germination," Beachwood Sparks' shimmering coherence gently lures and caresses the listener. "Confusion is Nothing New" skips and soars, "Let It Run" evokes both desolation and euphoria with its lonesome harmonica and cascading coda, "The Hustler" swings from pain to pleas for mercy, and a cover of Sade's "By Your Side" (with vocals by Chris Gunst) is a guileless and playful tribute.