As a self-produced multi-instrumentalist specializing in psych pop, Melbourne’s Nick Sowersby was bound to be compared to Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker. But while early Sunbeam Sound Machine tracks like 2014’s “In Your Arms” conjure a similar groggy grandeur, Sowersby quickly carved out his own distinct path. He turned to reverbed jangle, layered vocals, and a perkier pace on 2015’s “Getting Young,” asking to be returned to various years in the 1990s before breaking out a sidewinding guitar solo that runs through the remainder of the song. By contrast, 2019’s “Talking Distance” coats chiming melodies in shimmering effects to bring out the poppy side of shoegaze. For all his sonic world-building, Sowersby always nurtures an emotional connection with the listener. “I know when it feels right,” he sings on 2022’s “Two Summers,” “For a big, dumb, lovestruck feeling/To come along and swallow me whole.” His 2025 album Double Magic added some new tricks in percussionists Lochy Funston and Rhys Grunden and Sowersby’s own newly learnt saxophone. On that record’s “Waterfall (Strange Gravity),” he sprinkles rainforest sound effects while laying down one of his funkiest basslines to date—and another in a long line of casually transfixing choruses.