Mothership

Mothership is made up of a group of heady individuals, the type of musicians who are completely comfortable jamming out live on songs such as "Pink Lady Lemonade," by Acid Mothers Temple. Although tracks like "Serious Coyote" perfectly capture the sweeping, mind-bending, full-on space-rock experience of Mothership's incendiary live show, Eleven Dimensional Symphony, the outfit's full-length debut, mostly showcases the members' exquisite songcraft. Musically, the sprawling concept album (due to be released on Thursday, May 31, at the hi-dive) is fashioned as a kind of mirror image of Pink Floyd's 1971 classic, Meddle, opening with the eerie sounds of an electronically simulated albatross in the distance, unseen in a fog of haunting sounds. Thematically, though, Symphony's story line evokes Hawkwind's more ambitious marriage of pulp science fiction and rock opera. Through a delicate layering of sounds, Mothership delivers high-concept pop songs that transport the listener to another dimension and prove the act worthy of the album's lofty title.