Rick White takes us all to "where it's fine" and man oh man it's a good place to be.

Eric's Trip was one of those bands I think I was supposed to get into at the time, but they just never really connected with me.* So imagine my surprise when I heard Rick White's name mentioned on a recent podcast, as the host gushed on and on about his recent solo release Where it's fine.** The raucous rockers they described certainly didn't fit alongside my own preconceived—and severely outdated—notions of the kid of music White is making these days.

So I checked it out. Gave a few tunes a listen. And plunked down my dough to download the full album minutes later.

Where it's fine uses a psychedelic hard pop approach, fusing the fuzz with solid grooves and mantra-like melodies, topped off by a drumming style that manages straightforward beats with a more tumble style with a loose swing that is more mesmerizing than metronomic. And from what I can tell, it's all White, all the time. The only credit I could find is a short note from White saying the album was "made from collected solo recordings I created in my home studio between the spring of 2020 and spring 2021."

I gotta say, for a pandemic album, this sure doesn't sound like it was recorded in isolation. So hop alongside White and take a trip through an expanded universe. We all need temporary mental islands to escape to these day, right?

The album is available to listen to for free or pay for the download below, but if you wanna get it on vinyl that's an option too.

*It was literally a timing thing. Had I heard Eric's Trip maybe a year later than I was first introduced to them (1991?) my opinion might've been very different.

**It was a podcast about Sloan, so I guess it's not surprising they'd be championing other Canadian rockers. So read that purely as my surprise at the particular rocker they were championing. Though I didn't know White had also recorded a cover of Sloan's Peppermint EP recently as well, and then it all made total sense to me.