Cairo, Egypt psych-rock group the Invisible Hands are led by Alan Bishop, the former Seattle-based member of Sun City Girls and current co-boss of Sublime Frequencies, specialists of exposing far-flung, amazing music to Western ears. Bishop’s Egyptian excursion has resulted in the formation of a tight, wiry unit that includes Cherif El-Masri, Aya Hemeda, Adham Zidan, and Magued Nagati.

The Invisible Hands just released their second album, Teslam, on Bishop’s other label, Abduction in late October. (It was mixed and mastered in Seattle by Evan Schiller; Stranger Music Genius Eyvind Kang plays violin and viola on four tracks.) To those accustomed to Sun City Girls’ often confounding, ethnodelic-rock subversions, Teslam will seem like a rather straightforward rock record. In a way, it’s refreshing to hear Bishop in a sincere, relatively accessible mode, with occasional nods to his hero, film composer Ennio Morricone. It’s as surprising as dedicated smoker Bishop writing an anti-Big Tobacco screed (rest assured: Bishop's lyrics remain as poetically acerbic as ever).

“Slaughterhouse” is a slow-burning, decadent beauty of a tune that sounds like it was appropriated from a classic Italian giallo soundtrack, but maybe I'm imagining it. Whatever the case, the song builds to a series of well-spaced, ascending crescendos that'll make you want to punch the sky. Bishop and Hemeda's vocals possess a dazed delicacy that suggests a college-radio smash hit is a real possibility. Let's hope that Bishop and company can work out a US tour for next year.