The Allah-Las are massive music nerds and turned their talents to dub reggae on this tune inspired by a Jamaican movie from the Eighties.

I’m a big fan of The Allah-Las and I like their background story – they met while working at LA’s legendary Amoeba record store. Consequently, their music sounds like a collage of the deep cuts they found there, probably in the sections labelled Garage, Psych and Surf.

And, apparently, dub reggae.

Their laid-back jangly vibe is usually a Sixties-LA-meets-Sixties-NYC sort of thing, though they are far from retro, even if their influences shine through. I saw them live a couple of times, once in Brooklyn, and they were like a fusion of the Byrds and the Velvets. Which suits me just fine.

This, though, is very different. It sounds like they’ve been delving into the Dub Reggae section and pulled out a few King Tubby and Lee Perry LPs for further study.

And, judging by the title, watching the 1982 film Countryman, about a Jamaican fisherman who rescues two Americans from a plane crash and finds himself embroiled in a political conspiracy.

The film, which I remember seeing at the time, is more notable for its excellent reggae soundtrack, which ranges from familiar tunes by Bob Marley & The Wailers to deeper cuts from Lee Perry and even some UK reggae by Aswad and Steel Pulse.

Clearly it left its mark on the band as much as me.

Released last year, sadly it seems to be an outlier – a brief dabble in another genre – judging by what I’ve heard from their latest album, out at the end of August.