marston writes and plays The Invisible Girl. marston harkens back to the days of the Beatles, Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman and ’70s AM radio when you could hear all genres of music on the same station in the same hour. The Invisible Girl brings together all sorts of pop styles, gently filtered through a psychedelic sensibility that distinctly evokes California sunshine. The opener, “Shabby Shakes” is a wah-powered swamp rocker that nearly materializes white-booted go-go dancers in your earbuds. “Brother, Come Home” heads down home, bringing guitar, dulcimer and lap steel together in the sort of ersatz Appalachian folk tune associated with Bobbie Gentry and The Band. “Another Way to Your Heart” is a dreamy romantic ballad with Gary Brooker organ and Glen Campbell baritone guitar. “It Wouldn’t Be a Shame at All” provides a pop impression of a ’40s standard, not unlike the early songs of Leo Sayer and David Courtney. “”When You Wish Upon a Star” is not the well-known Disney song, but an original ballad with cascading psychedelic guitars and a 12-string solo channeling Roger McGuinn. “Don’t Make It Hard” is a soulful slow-burner with Santo and Johnny-inspired lead lines. “Stay Awhile” is a straight bossa nova with harmony lead guitars and a feel somewhere between Pablo Cruise and Boz Scaggs. “Come Along” brings a Kris Kristofferson vibe into the glens of post-lysergic Laurel Canyon. “These Blues” is a blues pastiche with a Louisiana breakdown that brings Creedence back to the bayou. The title track, “The Invisible Girl,” is a psych-pop confection equal parts Robyn Hitchcock and the aforementioned Nilsson. “Never Thirteen” is a near novelty number that approximates Mungo Jerry if Ray Dorset had played accordion rather than guitar. “So Long, Goodbye” is a piano ballad sweetened with psychedelic mellotron flourishes. marston began his interpretations of ’60s and ’70’s-inspired pop in the early ’80s LA bands The Phlaix (with future Asleep at the Wheel drummer David Sanger and his brother George, the Godfather of interactive game music) and the Corsairs (briefly featuring Jellyfish keyboardist Roger Manning). Bands, clubs, singles, EPs. LPs all followed. Then in 1994, he and John Krause formed Shplang and released four CDs over the next fifteen years, building a devoted following among power pop aficionados and psych-pop revivalists. The Invisible Girl is his first solo release and a one-man band project at that. Credits: All songs by marston. Lead guitar on Shabby Shakes, Don’t Make It Hard and So Long, Goodbye by Paul Lewolt. Recorded at Big Smash. Mixed by Michael Woodrum for Woodrum Productions. Mastered by Dave Donnelly at DNA Mastering. Design and graphics by John Krause. All songs published by Disgusted Runts (BMI) © 2015.