Continuing this golden era of Irish shoegaze comes a new band to the mix. Dublin’s Diving Bells have just released their debut album but these guys are no newbies to the scene.
The band was originally formed in South Korea by two Irish ex-pats and a drum machine in early 2013. They released two EPs before the fact of living in two separate geographical locations made the whole thing untenable. From the ashes of Dublin alt-rockers, Borders of Sleep, Padraig Kelly (guitars and vocals) resurrected the Diving Bells moniker with fellow BoS bandmate Niall Cooney (bass), and recruited Johnny Cole (guitar) and Samuel Martin (drums) to round out the lineup. The band released their third EP Always Searching for Sleep in 2020. Following that, the band set about recording their debut album, the appropriately named and suitably noisy follow up, Have Taken to Bed. The band have this to say on what we can expect.
“Have Taken to Bed is a swift and restless ride of noisy bliss cycling through Diving Bells’ fears, regrets, and hopes amidst a wall of jangling distortion, reverb-soaked vocals, feedback and fuzz.”
That sounds like a heady concoction and one I’m dying to dip into to.
The album opens with the punchy high energy ‘Places’. It comes replete with all fuzzy distorted guitars you lust after. There’s an early Placebo feel to both the vocal delivery and song construction, both of which make me very happy indeed. I love that closing section with then overlapping vocals and circular guitars. Diving Bells are starting strong.
‘Stay Young’ next is full of exuberance and vitality. Its heads down and thrashing the guitars for what seems like an age before we reach the release of the chorus which is bliss. It’s in the final minute though that the band really shake things up with an ever-ascending anxious guitar solo that builds and builds.
The band turn up to eleven on ‘Tripping’. The wall of distortion in the intro is exceptional and sets the scene nicely for the rest of the song. Theres some Sonic Youth level experimentation going on here and it’s utterly thrilling.
‘Ivanhoe’ delivers guitars that have a guttural growl that sounds brutal and menacing. Over the top though is a catchy pop hook in the verses that lifts everything. The choruses though are dark and looming like a slowly rolling fog over a seaside town. It’s that contrast that makes song for me.
The swells of guitars that drive the ever upward trajectory of the chorus to ‘The End is Built into the Beginning’ are so satisfying. Leaning heavily into the shoegaze aesthetic the song washes over you in waves, pounding your senses. This was made to be listened to at volume.
The approach softens slightly on the more balladlike ‘Clothes’. This song has real space allowing the guitar to become another voice, almost in harmony to the main vocal. The harmony it provides is haunting and adds real impact to the chant of “they’ll figure it out”.
‘Corrections’ is a slow burner of a song. This is a real lesson on how the simplest of melodies can deliver the most epic of results. The way the layers of instrumentation are added create an effect that’s fit for the largest of stadium stages. This makes it my album stand out track.
The album closes as it began, at real pace. The perfectly titled ‘Upbeat’ comes roaring in all hand claps and heads down guitar attack. When the vocals come in it sounds like there’s at least three parts all complementing each other. This high energy number sweeps you up and leaves you trying to catch your breath. I can only imagine this is killer live.
Have Taken to Bed is a stellar album showcasing a band happy to genre hop and, like musical magpies, use their influences to create something shiny and unique. Theres a real ambition throughout and it demonstrates that Diving Bells are only getting started.
Have Taken to Bed is out now and available for download from the Diving Bells Bandcamp page.
You can follow Diving Bells on social media here…
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