Fifty years removed from the tragic finale of the 1960s—broken promises, descents into madness—we find ourselves at an uncomfortably familiar cultural moment. Years of hope and progress are being threatened by the same kind of shift that paved the way for the rise of Nixon and most recent Donald Trump, another ruthless demagogue, toward a dismantling of open-mindedness and compassion. On their second full-length, Sunshine & The Blue Moon capture our collective anxiety from MAGA-era tension by exploring its overwhelming darkness through the same psychedelic grooves that originally sought to overpower that brand of bad vibes with blasts of sonic light. They don’t hide from it or ignore it but confront the uneasy state of our sweet world head on—battling bummers with an abundance of boogie, offering their bright, joyful voices in the fight against apathy and evil forces.

Sunshine & The Blue Moon know that whatever dreams or nightmares may come, it won’t do us any good to lose our ability to embrace joy and even get silly once in a while. In fact, it may be that spirit—the groovy one, the enlightened one—that keeps us from losing ground in the years to come. Born 2 Boogie is shot through with that spirit, simultaneously amplifying the good vibes of ‘60s psychedelia while wrestling with the demons that the last few years have re-loosed on the world. The place is here, after all, and the time is now. “Do as Grandma said: don’t watch the flowers grow,” Davey-Bellin sings on “Born 2 Boogie” over the jangle of tambourine. “There’s time for that when you’re dead.”