“Personally, I’ve been dreaming about making the soul equivalent of black metal for years,” multi-instrumentalist Ben Crook says. Hooking up with Rupert Clervaux and Sian Ahern, the three musicians formed the core of Sian Alice Group back in 2006, when they discovered that their brains vibrated at the same frequency. Allowing for a brief delay while ethereal vocalist Sian overcame her crippling stage fright (you’d never guess it now), SAG’s ranks are often swelled live by the likes of Jesus & Mary Chain’s Doug Hart and Brian DeGraw from Gang Gang Dance. After spending months on the road, technically SAG are homeless, but they’re hanging on to their secret weapon, Rupert’s Bloomsbury-based studio: “We never have to watch the clock there, and it’s always our rules,” he explains. Workaholic tendencies might see them disappearing into a sonic mist for days (and nights), but with music this enchanting, the neighbors aren’t complaining. Too smart to be tied to their influences (“We all listen to everything” they neatly side-step), the band does like to point out that they’re not shoegaze: “I’ve never owned a digital reverb pedal and never will” Ben insists. Instead, it’s safe to say there’s something of Steve Reich and Arthur Russell steeped in this cauldron, as well as a fondness for Angelo Badalementi’s haunting scores for David Lynch. Swapping instruments as fluidly as they glide through genres, debut album 59:59 verges on an hour of melodic pop, free jazz, psych-rock and lush orchestration. Rare and instinctive, when SAG take flight, they leave you with songs that shimmer and linger for days.