If The New Frontier Lounge were a contestant on Iron Chef, their bill Friday might be referred to as "psychedelia - three ways." Representing three distinct but, I think, valid, sides of psychedelic music will be Egg Plant, the Drug Purse, and the Nightgowns.

Let's take Egg Plant, for instance. The band reflects, to me, psychedelia the way it existed in the decade leading up to its renaissance. Utilizing the sleepy, genial sounds of folk, country, and ragtime, Egg Plant is psychedelic in the way people like John Prine or Arlo Guthrie were psychedelic. They don't aim to melt your brain or expand your mind, but rather to take your mind out for little while - not on a permanent vacation, just for a sunny walk through the park, maybe stopping to feed the ducks.

Though I've never tried it, I imagine Egg Plant would provide the perfect accompaniment to the too-bright morning after a night of heavy drinking, quietly coaxing your brain into getting up and walking to the coffee shop. Like Prine and Guthrie, it's Americana that's just a little closer to real life, and with a genuine wonder and delight in the world we inhabit.

[The New Frontier Lounge, with the Nightgowns, and The Drug Purse, Friday, March. 5, 9 p.m., cover TBA, 301 E. 25th St., Tacoma, 253.572.4020]