Seraphina Lotkhamnga on October 2nd, 2014

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Los Angeles quartet Northern American emerged last year with their “Happiness Hungover” EP, a short collection of sophisticated songs fusing pop, rock and jazz that seemed to be wonderfully out of place in the midst of surf- and garage-rockers usurping the SoCal scene. Since they played Buzz Bands LA’s Echo Park Rising stage and Chinatown Moon Festival last year, Nate Paul, Shane Alch, Augusto Vega and Bruno Calenda have been signed to the U.K.’s Heist or Hit Records – home to Letting Up Despite Great Faults, LoveLikeFire, Bad Veins and more – and have been spending all their minutes in the studio meticulously recording their full-length, “Modern Phenomena,” with producer Raymond Richards. Northern American’s early songs such as “Record Forever” possessed an affecting cinematic grace, and the quartet ups the ante with new material such as the shimmering closing track “Elysian,” perfect for fans of Jonathan Wilson, Real Estate and Mazzy Star. Rich bass lines, radiating keyboard chord progressions, reverb-laden guitar and Paul’s butter-smooth vocals make for a song worthy of its celestial title. Here, Northern American draws from L.A.’s Laurel Canyon history rather than the noise of Tinsel Town, and “Elysian” offers five blissful minutes worthy of that lineage. The single will be available digitally Oct. 6 worldwide, and “Modern Phenomena” is slated for a release in January.

||| Stream: “Elysian”

||| Previously: “Record Forever”