Time moves forward inexorably for us all, even for Triptides, a band determined to live in the sunny warmth of California’s past. As their musical obsessions shifted from the mid- to late ’60s over the course of their first several albums, the band have advanced into the laid-back, balmy climate of the early to mid-’70s on 2025’s Shapeshifter. The cheery buzz of synthesizers carries the weight on many of the record’s 11 tracks, and while numbers like “Connection,” “Your Darkness,” and “More Than a Friend” build up enough momentum to rock, the significant majority of this music is amiably easygoing, summoning a proto-yacht rock vibe. Shapeshifter also captures less of the back-and-forth feel of a band playing live than one might hope for, which is not a surprise…

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