The Devil Bat

Lingers Like a Ghost (Sister Skull)

Unassuming yet surprisingly potent, the Devil Bat hits like a well-crafted beer buzz at a run-down rent-house garden party. Led by guitarist/vocalist L.A. Cameron, the Austin quintet’s homespun sound contrasts elements of coffeehouse folk with triangulated psychedelic guitar, connecting the local legacy dots forward from Powell St. John and Roky Erickson on through to Girls in the Nose. Appropriately, Nose vet Gretchen Phillips is on hand to produce and provide harmony vocals on this promising five-song debut. Ghost begins with “The Corner Store,” a plaintive mash note to a frozen-hearted, tortured artist type that climbs from lilting to loud and back down again. “Appalachia” explores appropriately gothic themes of retribution and redemption against a rambling rhythmic backdrop, while “Standing at the Edge of Daybreak” self-immolates in the frazzled 4am weirdness of a flagging noncommercial radio signal. Welcome back to 1965, by way of 1985.

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This article appears in August 8 • 2008.

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Greg Beets was born in Lubbock on the day Richard Nixon was elected president. He has covered music for the Chronicle since 1992, writing about everyone from Roky Erickson to Yanni. Beets has also written for Billboard,Uncut, Blurt, Elmore, and Pop Culture Press. Before his digestive tract cried uncle, he co-published Hey! Hey! Buffet!, an award-winning fanzine about all-you-can-eat buffets.