Dutch revivalist Jacco Gardner’s Hypnophobia (Polyvinyl Records) pays tribute to the psychedelic and orchestral pop of the late ‘60s (as well as its ‘80s and ‘90s revivals), but uses an expansive tonal and instrumental color palette to approximate an indistinct grey blur. Hypnophobia’s 10 songs are haunted by a melancholy, a sense of humid dread that seeps into its most minute details and keeps the tempo sluggish.

Gardner’s strong, rhythmic acoustic guitar shapes the pulse of most of these ornate tracks and the most successful songs here put that sense of rhythm in the front. Leadoff “Another You” is infectious, with its sleepy/sexy dancefloor swagger, stabs of guitar and organ in unison, moaning backing vocals, and bubbling bass. But this first track also sets up a large problem with Hypnophobia: Gardner’s appealing, slightly flat vocals and winking bored-of-it-all delivery make the listener lean in only to be repaid with lyrics like, “The fading colors of the past will remain where memories last.”

Other tracks that work well play up their swaying, shuffling rhythms. “Grey Lanes,” an instrumental which carves a picture with a bass line that’s both flowery and direct, links up with a drum part that’s mostly snare and supports it with an infectious fuzz guitar riff and flowing organ. Eight-minute track “Before the Dawn” is full of tautness and acid, the most tense track on the record with a steady build of minimal elements crowding one another out. Bursts of carnival organ and what sound like Mellotron strings fight for space with insistent, motorik lockstep bass and drums, chiming percussion, the crackle of static used like a transition color, and a vocal that gives space for all these elements to shine and shift like a twisting kaleidoscope.

Outside of these flashes, though, Hypnophobia has a boredom problem. Too many of the songs blur together, and the lyrics and melodies aren’t strong enough to rise above the sameness. And unfortunately, the tension between the fear of sleep in the title and the overall somnambulistic vibe of the actual music never quite gels as interesting irony.