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 When David Axelrod's Rock Interpretation of Handel's Messiah was originally released in 1971, there was something of a trend in the meeting of hippie subcultures and religious themes. The enormous popularity of Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell had opened the gates for legions of groovy Christians and flower children of the Lord, and an underground of psychedelic Christian folk artists was building to an apex around this time. Axelrod's intentions with Messiah were removed from these trends, as the record was more a continuation of the strange work he had begun with the Electric Prunes a few years earlier on concept records Mass in F Minor and Release of an Oath. As with these records, Messiah was Axelrod's attempt at psychedelicizing a mode of music he was obsessed with and, in his words, "making Handel more accessible." – All Music

Four years after releasing his Grammy Award-winning "God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise," Ray LaMontagne [released] his fifth studio album, "Supernova," on May 6 [2014] on RCA Records.

Despite the four-year hiatus—his longest since releasing his debut album, "Trouble," in 2004—LaMontagne eventually found inspiration for the new album. "For the longest time these songs were eluding me. I felt like a kid trying to collect lightning bugs. I’d catch a glimpse out of the corner of my eye and run for it, but the light would go out just as I thought I’d gotten hold of one," he tells TIME. "But eventually I caught on to their game. I stopped chasing them altogether. Instead I just sat there as if I were completely disinterested in them. And wouldn’t you know it, one by one they came to me! Flew right into my jar." – TIME 

“…the money shot is "Drive-In Movies," which welds LaMontagne's woolly folk rock and Auerbach's retro mixology into a wonder of pop-culture time travel. "I wanna be Brando in The Wild One," he sings, like an old coot recalling his salad days over a whiskey and a fresh pack of smokes, more or less happy to be just who he is.” – Rolling Stone

“There’s a lot to be said for taking the slow and steady approach. This New England troubadour’s profile has grown on the back of a handful of great albums featuring that distinctive, soulful croak and weatherbeaten, introspective folk-pop songs.

[…] Ouroboros has moments of magnificent intensity (In My Own Way), while making room for effervescent wigouts (The Changing Man, Hey, No Pressure). As LaMontagne notes, you won’t hear these songs on the radio, but that’s their loss.” – Irish Times

“With his top 5 2004 debut, Trouble, Ray Lamontagne enjoyed the kind of success that doesn't often greet shy purveyors of melancholy Americana. However, for this fifth album – produced by knob-twiddler du jour, the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach – beardy sounds have surprisingly been replaced by psychedelic pop. Songs indebted to Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, the Byrds and the Turtles audibly sport bowl cuts and Paisley shirts. A once-shadowy figure, Lamontagne now sings about frolicking in colourful meadows – "walked through the fields, sat on a tree" – where he presumably gazed at marmalade skies. However, Supernova is more homage than pastiche. The Neil Young-y travelogue Ojai is just gorgeous, and terrific hooks, classy songwriting and clever gear changes abound. The title track cheekily references Tom Petty ("you know me, I won't back down"), tips a daft hat to Them-era Van Morrison and finds room for a stupidly catchy psych-pop chorus.” – The Guardian

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