Labels: Sonic Masala
Review by: MH
Here is another band taking me back to the 90s with a blissful shoegaze sound and doing it as good as any band I’ve heard in a long time. This is a Brisbane 4-piece that I have seen live a couple of times with The Nation Blue and with someone else that I can’t recall – maybe Violent Soho but I can’t say for sure. I was all over this type of music when I was a teenager and it still excites me when done this well. You can hear the influence of the likes of bands from that era like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive in particular throughout the record. Whirr would be another lazy point of reference. The record is drenched in fuzzy reverb and muffled vocals to make a thick, blissful and noisy, layered sound. There are three sets of vocals by the way – the two girls are the main vocalists but the male guitarist also gets his fair share, and the melodies shine and soar throughout. The opener sets the tone with delicate harmonies over searing, discordant guitars. Elsewhere, “Gold” is laced with underlying menace and “No One Else” lilts and drifts and is in turns beautiful and loud. “Ended” has that nauseating, wobbly feel to the guitars that good shoegaze does to you every now and then, and “Come Untrue” sees them bring out a more powerful, rocking side. Exceedingly loud live, I thought this was going to be good but it’s better than I expected. Get on this asap if you like looking at your shoes and all that good stuff.