When people think of All Tomorrow’s Parties, they are more likely to enthuse about the festival bills crammed with tasteful, leftfield indie bands, rather than the record label run by the same people.

ATP Recordings have already released the first two Sleepy Sun records and have now put out the Californians’ third effort, the intriguingly titled Spine Hits. Sleepy Sun are as far removed from ubercool acts like Mogwai (who are playing this year’s ATP sister festival I’ll Be Your Mirror) as you can imagine, so it’s a bit of an odd fit – but then again, some of the most exciting albums have been released by labels you normally wouldn’t associate with the band’s music (Shabazz Palaces’ Sub Pop debut being a great example).

It turns out that Spine Hits, while agreeable and even entertaining in places, isn’t another example of those odd pairings that make for great combinations. That’s because Sleepy Sun engage in a kind of ’70s psychedelic acid rock and early heavy metal homage that, despite a number of interesting textures and moments, isn’t very rewarding to try and keep up with.

The tempo is mid-tempo throughout, leaving space for wah-wah pedal noodlings (surely an effects pedal that nobody except Jimi Hendrix tribute bands should be allowed to use) and riff rock escapades that sound like they were fun to nod your head along to in the practice room but come across as lumpen and self-indulgent on record. Martyr’s Mantra’ is a tiring piece of jam rock with weak, faux-dramatic vocals and nonsensical lyrics, and ‘Stivey Pond’, with its frustratingly meandering pace, aimless melody and sub-Sabbath riffs is a weird choice for an album opener.

Having said all that, there are a number of moments on Spine Hits that are interesting, well-executed and exciting. ‘Boat Trip’ has backing vocals that sound like a long-lost Beach Boys vocal track played backwards, creating a satisfyingly creepy effect along with the country/blues guitar jangling along at the back of the mix. ‘Siouxsie Blaqq’, before it goes off on a rather generic rock tangent, features a considered study of The Velvet Underground’s quieter, hazy moments, and the raucous, Crazy-Horse-inspired outro of ‘Lioness’ is a lovely touch.

Overall, however, these nuggets are too isolated within a 45-minute record to make for consistent listening – the effort and the ability is there, but, maybe typically for this genre, it’s all a bit too cerebral to have any sort of emotional impact.