Barcelona-based psych-tinged indie rock quartet Santa Rita s debut album High on the Seas can be adequately summed up by the opening track Báltico . The song opens with Natalia Brovedanni s reverb-drenched guitar licks with the driving, mid-tempo drum beat from Laura Oliveras and a warm bass groove from Martha Wood entering soon after. The rhythm section keeps the groove going for the first half of the song, while Brovedanni builds tension with some dissonant chords that are also drenched in reverb, almost like a grittier, modernized take on surf rock. Lead vocalist Cecilia Díaz Betz almost speaks rather than sings, although there is a touch of melodic inflection. And then, about halfway through the song, everything explodes as the instrumentalists begin to hit hard and the phrase smash your brain is yelled over and over again. Rinse and repeat this process for the last minute or so of the song. That sudden shift from relaxed groove to loud, kickass rock n roll captures everything High on the Seas is about. The members of Santa Rita are vocal about their 90 s alt-rock influences, and the listener will definitely hear bits of Superunknown and You d Prefer An Astronaut. There is a definite psychedelic influence as well, but rather than smother you in layers, Santa Rita keep it relatively light and airy, while also maintaining their grittiness. Fans of The Black Angels, Silversun Pickups, and the White Stripes alike should all hear something they like about High on the Seas. Santa Rita s wide variety of influences puts them in a unique niche in the indie rock scene, but what most impressed me about High on the Seas was simply how hard it rocks. The passion this band shows for its craft is easily apparent, and there is energy on this album that doesn t exist within a lot of their peers. Even the softer, darker tracks like Cap de Creus and Pacifico contribute to the energy rather than interrupt it. I went in expecting something far more psychedelic than I got, but the band could have included zero psychedelic influence and I would have only been slightly disappointed. The fact that those influences are there is a nice bonus. High on the Seas is an impressive debut, and the uniqueness of their approach has me eager to see how their sound evolves. This could be a band to watch. Echoes & Dust