In Summary : A deserving addition to the psychedelic pop canon.

"Her Wallpaper Reverie"is a concept mini-album about a woman named Rainy Ruby. Rainy Ruby spends the day in her room listening to records and dreaming. As her gaze deepens, the wallpaper seems to change with her moods...Huh?For those of you too young to be intimate with the very idea of"the concept album,"a work like"Her Wallpaper Reverie"would have been par for the course in 1967. Back then, the full flower of psychedelia was in magnificent bloom as the likes of The Beatles ("Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"), Rolling Stones ("Their Satanic Majesties' Request"), and Pink Floyd ("The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn") defined a heady epoch during the Summer of Love.BUT, does psychedelia still make sense three decades later?The Apples In Stereo certainly think so.Based on the evidence present on"Her Wallpaper Reverie,"they may be perfectly entitled to hold that view.Having spent the best part of the 1990s keeping the faith for what detractors refer to as"retro,"head Apple Robert Schneider, together with fellow '60s-obsessed iconoclasts, Jeff Magnum (Neutral Milk Hotel) and Will Hart (Olivia Tremor Control), have (with their involvement with the art pop collective Elephant 6) been instrumental in keeping the artistic aspects of pop alive and kicking."Her Wallpaper Reverie"bridges the gap between the Apples' last venture, the bright and chiming"Tone Soul Evolution,"and the next full-length project. Consisting of seven songs and eight instrumental pieces that tell the story of the aforementioned Ruby, the fragmented yet fragile pop on"Her Wallpaper Reverie"recalls the childish majesty of the Beach Boys' legendary unfinished"Smile"as well as those landmark psychedelic albums.Thus, even if you can't get into the eight offbeat toy piano based instrumentals, the strength of material like the wonderfully Beatlesque"Strawberryfire,"the vibrant"Ruby,"and the Wilsonesque"Y2K"should more than convince critics that"Her Wallpaper Reverie"is a deserving addition to the psychedelic pop canon, whatever the decade.