Chrysanthemums | ms

The very definition of “cult favorites,” the Chrysanthemums (known since the mid-’90s as Chrys&themums) are the sort of group who inspire loyalty among a small band of admirers while remaining entirely below the radar of the public at large. Their music, a mixture of British Invasion-inspired pop, experimental eccentricity, and psychedelic flourishes, is just slightly too odd for wide mainstream acceptance, but few bands walk the knife’s edge between accessibility and impenetrability so well. The Chrysanthemums started in 1986, when the British fanzine Outlet printed articles on guitarist/songwriter Alan Jenkins’ lo-fi psychedelic pop band the Deep Freeze Mice and classically-trained...