Back in May I covered the latest single from dream pop musician and producer Jamie Duddy aka Dreamback. ‘Sometimes’ was a dramatic change in direction from the woozy, laid-back sounds of his Asleep EP to a more direct indie pop song. I was really excited to check out his new EP in full, titled Awake. You can see he is carrying a theme through all his work. Here’s how Duddy describes how he conceived the ideas across both EP’s.
“ The ideas for Asleep and Awake were conceived together, the idea being that Asleep had more dreamy atmospheric sound and Awake a little bit more brighter and direct, ‘poppier’ sound which allowed me to explore influences from stuff like The Shins, Pavement and Rogue Wave”
The EP opens on the upbeat pop sounds of ‘Sometimes’, check out what I thought over here.
Next up is the track I premiered on my DKFM show in July, ‘Maybe She Will’. A call back in style to his earlier work. Its reverb drenched and lush instrumentation compliment his hushed and measured vocal. This is my EP highlight and one I’m sure will be featuring on a lot of summer playlists.
‘Jasmine Molly’, an ode to one of Duddy’s sisters, revisits that Primitives like sound with Duddy trading vocals with his partner Laura Beth. The jangliest guitars remind me of later Ultra Vivid Scene in places, in a spaced out, cosmic sounding way.
The pace comes down for the balladlike ‘Little Trees’. A beautiful, summery guitar jam over Laura Beth’s swoon some oohs and aahs. It’s a very relaxing number.
‘Willow’ reminds of very early Blur from their Leisure period. There something quintessentially English about this song. It might be Duddy’s enunciation or the melody of the song. It conjures up images of London in the summer heat.
The EP closes on the instrumental ’18.05’ his song to his other sister. This song shimmers like a still ponds surface on the brightest day. The heat of the sun is palpable as you let the song was over you. It’s a glorious way to sign off.
Again, Duddy has produced a cohesively written and produced set of songs that lift your spirits and make you smile. Each of his releases tell a story and he keeps impressing me with the consistency of quality across all the tracks.
The Awake EP will be released on July 28 over on the Dreamback Bandcamp page but you can pre-order now.
After the recent reissue of Engineers early releases, I was over the moon to hear that Mark Peters was releasing a new album called Red Sunset Dreams on Sonic Cathedral. I absolutely loved his last solo outing, Innerland, so I was excited to hear what he had in store for us.
“Red Sunset Dreams’ is another album about an imaginary landscape. ‘Innerland’ was inspired by a move back to my hometown of Wigan and the memories it stirred up, but ‘Red Sunset Dreams’ looks out across the Atlantic, inspired by my lifelong obsession with country and Americana music.“
I’ll be breaking Red Sunset Dreams down track by track nearer its September 16 release date so watch this space.
In the meantime, Peters is treating us to the first single from the album, its opening track, ‘Switch On The Sky’. For this one he is in illustrious company with One Doves Dot Allison featuring on lead vocals. He has this to say on Allison’s involvement.
“I regard Dot highly as an artist, but it’s her exploration of similar ideas on One Dove’s cover of ‘Jolene’ or BJ Cole playing on ‘Tomorrow Never Comes’ from her first solo album ‘Afterglow’ made me think she would be perfect”. “Our first conversation included the names Gene Clark, Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, so it was clear that a collaboration would go well.”
The track opens on Allisons hushed tones picking out the verse lyrics with a percussive reverence. The chorus brings in technicolour flourishes with Allison’s vocal treated to a psychedelic filter. The coda of “Now is the time” is sung like a mantra to the early morning sun.
This is a great introduction to the album and I’m sure this will appear on a great many summer playlists. Check out the video for the song here.
Mark has recently put a brand new three-piece live band together and will be playing a series of shows following the release of ‘Red Sunset Dreams’. The following dates have just been announced:
Here at Static Sounds Club, I’m no stranger to the music of The Churchill Garden, the transatlantic dreampop duo comprised of Andy Jossi and Krissy Vanderwoude. Their music is a regular on my turntable so I was really happy to hear that new single is being released. I was keen to find out what ‘Always There’ was about, here’s what the band had to say.
“This one will especially appeal to fans of The Chameleons, U2 and Lush. A sweet song about true friendship and the gratitude and reassurance that comes along with finding those loyal friends in life. Big love in the form of a song going out to those “one in a million” friends who are always there, unconditionally.”
For me this sounds just like the optimistic and positive vibe that drew me to the band in the first place.
The song drives along at pace, the lyrics sung with a percussive rhythm that hits the accents on the chiming guitars. On the subject of those guitars, they’re massive. Like stadium big. I see where they were driving at with the U2 reference. As with all the music Jossi makes that’s only one texture on display. The unique sonic recipe he has for his guitar mix always floors me.
Vanderwoude’s vocal is, as always, uplifting and deeply personal. You feel you are in conversation with her. Highly relatable lyrics like “The world could use a few more like you” firmly place you in the song. That is the measure of her sheer skill as a lyricist. Making the listener feel that it’s their song which takes them out of that passive experience. Making them actively feel.
This is yet another buoyant and uplifting track from two of the coolest people in the shoegaze and dream pop world.
‘Always There’ is out now over on The Churchill Gardens Bandcamp page and all the usual streaming platforms.
You can follow The Churchill Garden on social media here…
Back in 1990 Greenock born musician, Sheer Taft was signed to the world-famous Creation Records label. There he released the cult classic single ‘Cascades’. It was a song out of time, carving its own highly influential spot in Creation history. Fast forward to 2022, now based in Spain, Sheer returns with his first new album since Absolutely Sheer in 1992.
And Then There Were Four is quite different to that low fi, dub/house sound Sheer created back in the 90’s. He has enlisted the help of friends including Ed Chapman; a renowned English artist, members of Primal Scream as well as his good friend and band mate Robert McGovern from The Method One.
Sheer explains how the name of the album came about.
“In 2018 after a particularly messy session involving Pacharan, a Spanish version of Pernod, the name ‘and then there were four’ was bandied around as my fellow travellers fell by the wayside. It sounded like a Spaghetti western, and the idea was hatched.”
And it’s with that very tone we saddle up and head into the opening title track. It’s an expansive and immersive experience evoking the dusty ride of our hero across the dusty plains. It has it all. Spanish guitar, tubular bells, violins and a choir. It’s a real statement of intent and sets the scene nicely for the album as a whole. On how they captured this sound Sheer had this to say.
“We began recording in Artesonao studios in Malaga, myself and Ed Chapman. We were ably assisted by Rachel Hewitt on violin and we recorded a dozen or so tunes in a week. We recruited the services of Darrin Mooney and Martin Duffy of Primal Scream on drums and keys, both of whom just managed to avoid being locked down in Spain as the borders closed at the beginning of the pandemic. Andrew Innes assisted on additional guitars, celeste and bells…lots of bells. Robert McGovern came out to Malaga to play on a few tracks also. We had the voice of Justine Petty – Burrows a Canadian chanteuse to be a foil to my less than acrobatic voice.”
The pace slows for ‘Everybody’s Been Somebody’s Fool’. Sheers rich, deep voice adding gravitas and a world worn atmosphere to this southern fried ballad. There’s a gospel influence in Petty-Burrows backing vocal which lifts the track to another level. Couple that with the country licks from the guitars and the mournful violin complimenting the piano and you have a stone-cold classic.
The lilting instrumental ‘Gypsy River’ follows. I love how this song builds. The song periodically pauses. After each pause new elements join the throng. The violin echoing over the gently strummed and picked acoustic guitars being my personal highlight.
The sun comes out on the next instrumental, ‘After Midnight’. It’s a sunny, soulful trip. Fender Rhodes picks out the melody while a smooth guitar lays down a feelgood groove. This is windows down, cruising down the highway music.
The weather stays the same on ‘The Sun Is Ours’. An acoustic track led by Petty-Burrows gorgeous vocal. Reminiscent of a lost James Taylor or Tim Buckley track it cements a smile on your face. I wanted this one to go on for longer. Surely the sign of a great song.
‘Mezcal Dreams’ maintains the upbeat acoustic vibe with a glorious off kilter counter melody going on from what sounds like a theremin. As soon as this song broke out the ray gun noises in the last 45 seconds or so I flashed on The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band for a moment. A band whose music I love. Which made me wonder what influences Sheer was drawing on when writing this album.
“The record was a return to my favourite music of my youth, soaking up Dylan, Scott Walker, Tim Buckley, Tim Rose, Tim Hardin and the soundtracks of Morricone, like an old compilation tape from 1986. Ed and I based the record on a screenplay being written by him and his brother Ivan Chapman, a tale of a loner, returning to old haunts with trepidation and an awareness of the inevitable dangers he had left behind.”
We revisit the title track and the main musical motifs of the album on ‘Four Ride Out’. Equally as epic but performed acoustically with a bongo backing. It certainly delivers the goods.
‘Enemigo De Todo’ follows with a grittier more direct attack. Translating as ‘Enemy of Everything’ it conjures up images of our lone gunman on the warpath. A fuzzed-out guitar adds a new texture to the sonic palate of the album. It really makes you sit up and take notice. There’s something of the Arthur Lee’s about this song. I could definitely hear this on a Love album.
The joyful ‘Alegria’ follows. This song is all dancing light through the trees, bouncing off the babbling stream in myriad colours. You can feel your spirit lift from the opening notes.
Sheer draws on his inner Dylan for ‘Chasing Down A Dream’. It’s poetic storytelling in the spirit of the great man himself. Couple that with a killer backing track and you have the recipe for an amazing song. I love how it transforms in the closing minute with that soaring guitar solo.
‘The Ghost’ is an eerie instrumental whose chorus pulses like a heartbeat before drifting back into the dream of the verses. Really pay close attention to all the guitars on this one. There’s some pretty acrobatic playing going on.
We hear the soulful tones of Petty-Burrows again on the wistful ‘Time’. There’s a yearning. A longing in the bones of this song. It sent me back to the beginning over and over to work out what it was. Why was this song affecting me so much? I still don’t fully understand why, maybe it’s the ever-evolving backing track, maybe it’s when Petty-Burrows sings “sometimes” at that key moment. I just don’t know. What I do know is that I bloody love this song and it’s my album stand out track.
‘Requiem for Pablo’ takes us back, once again, to the title track for a fresh spin on the epic musical motifs of this album. You can check it out for yourself here.
We close out the album on the mournful farewell of ‘(There Goes) A Friend Of Mine’. A beautiful vocal again from Petty-Burrows interspersed with spoken word vocals in the style of Johnny Cash. The song is impactful and is the perfect bookend to this album, this whole listening experience.
With ‘And Then There Were Four’ Sheer is stepping away from the sounds we know him for and delving into his musical memory. In the process he’s undoubtedly soaked up the influences of his Spanish surroundings to create something truly unique and special. There’s a tale being told throughout this cohesive and utterly immersive album. Sit down, put the needle on the record and let Sheer tell you all about it.
‘And Then There Were Four’ is out on August 5 2022. The album is available for pre order now from Glass Modern on Bandcamp. You can grab a digital copy or, if you’re quick, there’s a small number of copies left on dark blue vinyl.
There are some labels which I don’t just like, I love them. Like, love them in a ….I need them to exist so I can too kinda way. The bands this label has put out over the years have become some of my absolute favourite go to records. Who am I talking about? Sonic Cathedral of course. It’s in the title innit!
Sonic Cathedral began life as a club night where Nathaniel Cramp would host shoegaze and other dreamy sounding acts to give them a forum. It cannot be under estimated the impact and importance of these nights to the UK shoegaze scene. Cramp was creating a space for the shoegaze sound when all around him had written it off as dead genre. In those early years Sonic Cathedral saw performances from the likes of The Radio Department, Engineers, Mark Peters, iLiKETRAiNS, Secret Machines, Neil Halstead, Spectrum, Maps, Chapterhouse, pretty much every member of Ride ultimately leading to the first show in 20 years from Slowdive.
It was in 2006 that Cramp decided to launch Sonic Cathedral as record label. Initially releasing a series of seven-inch singles from the likes of The Tamborines, Mark Gardner and School of Seven Bells. Since those early days the label has continued on as the standard bearer for the shoegaze scene in the UK and across the world. Let’s have a look at some of the acts who have had their music released by the label over the last few years.
Cramp was quick to spot the potential in this band from Chicago. His keen ear could hear the 90’s aesthetic and gaze influence in their sound and quickly secured their first ever physical single release with ‘Ballroom Dance Scene’ and ‘Sea Life Sandwich Boy’. The band have since released their debut album on Matador records and are busy conquering the world. It all started here though with this pair of magical songs.
Hailing from Malmö in Sweden this trio of diehard shoegazers first met Cramp after a Slowdive show in London. This has led to Sonic Cathedral releasing a single, the self-titled EP and of course, their stunning debut album Pink Noise. If you haven’t heard them before they’re like a fuzzy, dreamy blend of Alvvays, The Cure and Stereolab. Pink Noise is an absolutely incredible debut album and has a really timeless sound.
The Ride guitarist has stepped into the front of stage to release two critically acclaimed albums via Sonic Cathedral, The View From Halfway Down from 2020 and this years Flicker. Bell has carved his own sound with his take on modern pop psychedelia, folk and chiming sixties odysseys. If your only experience of his work is from his Ride back catalogue or his time in Oasis then you really need to check these albums out.
Austrian duo Molly took inspiration from the landscape around their home in the Tyrol in the far west of the country for their sound. Their mountainous and glacial debut album All That Ever Could Have Been is alpine in scale and texture. Each track expansive and immersive, an all-consuming listen and it’s no wonder Sonic Cathedral had to get this album out there.
Sennen fuse the post rock sound with that early 90’s gaze aesthetic to produce a sound that is all their own. Sonic Cathedral reissued their classic debut album Widows in 2021. Remastered and including exclusive additional tracks it was a smash success. They couldn’t have a better home for this release than with Sonic Cathedral.
Former Mogwai collaborator and electronica specialist Martin Jenkins aka Pye Corner Audio is set to release his second album for Sonic Cathedral. After the runaway success of his Social Dissonance live recording of his set at the labels 15th Birthday party at the Social in London, Let’s Emerge is out on 15 July this year. This one is a less shadowy feeling album with Andy Bell featuring on half the tracks fleshing out the sound. His music never fails to excite so make sure you check him out.
Mildred Maude are improvisational geniuses. Able to take a groove and run and evolve it into a 30-minute set which hypnotises and beguiles you as a live band they can’t be beat. Sonic Cathedral managed to get them to bottle that energy and put it out on their sophomore album Sleepover. I caught these guys supporting bdrmm and I was transfixed. If you get the opportunity to see them live grab it! You won’t be disappointed.
Lastly, we have the labels runaway success. Hulls finest, bdrmm. Since releasing their debut album Bedroom they have gone from strength to strength. Gone from playing small venues to supporting the likes of Ride and Mogwai on some of the world’s biggest stages. This band have worked incredibly hard, honing their sound and stage show and it really shows. Their latest release ‘Port’ sold out in under 60 seconds on Bandcamp. That is testament to both the talent of the band and the support and nurturing environment fostered by Cramp at Sonic Cathedral.
This is certainly not an exhaustive list of all the acts on Sonic Cathedral but I do hope it has given you a taste of what they have on offer. Make sure you follow Sonic Cathedral on Bandcamp to check out all these amazing acts and much more. Let’s not forget the legendary Shoegazer t-shirts as well!
I’d just like to say a massive thank you to Nat for all the hard work he pours into Sonic Cathedral. Here’s to many more years to come of pioneering gaze and adventures in sound.
You can follow Sonic Cathedral on social media here ….
If you’ve been following the blog for a while now, you’ll know how much I love Fir Cone Children. Alexander Donat’s passion project exudes positivity and optimism from every note played. I covered his last album Waterslide at 7amback in 2020 when it brightened my lockdown days no end. Back in December 2021 Donat launched his latest album It Chooses You featuring collaborations with my good pals Krissy Vanderwoude and Jackie Kasbohm.
It’s my pleasure to premiere the video to the latest single from that album, ‘Cereals and Confidence’. I asked Alex to tell us a bit about the song itself
“Like all FCC songs this one is about my daughters and how they grow up. After 1st grade I recognized how my first daughter’s self-confidence was taking a leap. The little girl that, in the first weeks, had tears in her eyes when entering the school building suddenly learned arithmetic, and – in no time – became an amazing reader that blew me and my family away.
It was almost as if every spoon of cereal she took in, helped her body grow and her ability to understand complex things. ‘Snowblack’ is the name of her mouse, a pet she dearly loves and cares for. It’s like a companion that additionally helps her in difficult times. Seeing her holding Snowblack, giving her a soft kiss on the head is heart-breaking.”
The song has an eighties, goth art house vibe. The bass could’ve been lifted straight from a Cure track. The lush synths lift and surround the vocals. I love how the song evolves as it progresses, right up to that buoyant, uplifting ending. I’ve listened to this song so many times now and I still can’t get my head around how he created the chorus. The drums alone are stunningly complex. It’s classic Fir Cone Children. Uplifting and life affirming lyrics framed in a killer track.
Before you enjoy the video, I asked Alex a bit about how it came about.
“During last year’s summer holidays, I knew I’d take the opportunity to shoot a video on the west coast of Denmark. The scenery was amazing, the weather perfect, not too cold, not too hot.
When my daughters weren’t too eager to go to the beach after a longer walk in the countryside, my wife asked me: “Wanna shoot the Fir Cone Children video today? Weather’s perfect!”
I went for “Cereals & Confidence” because it’s a song without guest vocals and it was the only one from the “It Chooses You” album where the topic fit to what we could and would shoot: sun, wind, joy, beach, the sea, vast green dunes, happiness. The mind is as wide as an ocean. It made sense, and I really enjoyed running around. The fun was real.”
Here it is, the video for ‘Cereals and Confidence’. Enjoy.
Having been fortunate enough to had a sneak peek atAssessment, the 2021 breath-taking release from Tren Go! Sound System & Ornamental I was buzzing to hear from the good folks at Dirty Filthy Records. Pedro Pestana, the man behind Tren Go! Sound System is poised to release his next record and this time it’s something totally different. Here’s what they have to say about this album.
“Suspended Islands OST. The soundtrack for Wura Moraes and Darya Efrat’s site-specific performance trajectory along Ria de Aveiro, known as the Venice of Portugal.
The audience would attend the small island performances on boats and their route would be accompanied by this contemplative music.
The estuary is the main source of inspiration for this soundtrack. The sweet and salty water’s apparent lack of waves doesn’t hide its own tidal rhythms. It’s a meeting place and we’re invited to visit.”
This does sound like a change from the frenetic energy and pace of Assessment. Let’s chill out and pull on the headphones for this one.
The record opens with the ambient tones of ‘Welcome Aboard!’. With the sound of the wind across the river the song opens and evolves through glimpses of vocal like wails and eerie sonic textures. Eventually the unmistakable tones of Pestana’s guitar appears through the mist and gives this song form and meaning. A soothing and relaxing opening leads us to track two, ‘The Swing of Things’.
We actually begin on a looped guitar riff phasing in and out hypnotically. Over this come more guitars, layering, building, weaving in and out of each other. This song absolutely conjures the mental image of a midnight boat ride. That initial loop is like the percussive sound of the tide against the hull and the glint of the moon on the water. It’s mesmerising stuff.
This takes us to my album highlight ‘The Long Run (Excerpt)’. There’s something unquestionably beautiful about this track. It just feels right. I’m not sure why but it just feels familiar, like an old friend, rediscovered. The stunning guitar has elements of South American folk music with the most restrained fuzz notes played with the utmost care. I could sit and listen to this ebb and flow into my ears for hours quite happily.
The experience completes itself with ‘The Long Run’ itself. An eighteen-minute exploration piece which builds on the tones and themes of the excerpt to craft a monumental aural journey. I would implore you to lie back and let the music carry you away. There’s so much to take in and enjoy along the way but it never overwhelms or vexes you. On the contrary. This is a warm and comforting embrace of a tune, one which the excerpt only alluded to.
Suspended Islands, in it’s four tracks, absolutely captures the feel of that estuary. It is a stunning example of an artist being able to paint pictures in your head with music. The ultimate goal of any soundtrack. It is so far removed from Pestana’s previous work but it’s obviously somewhere he feels totally at home. The comfort is palpable in this music. It literally pours from every note embracing and nurturing our soul. Don’t take my word for it. Cast off and drift on downriver yourself.
Suspended Islands OST is available now on opaque yellow vinyl via Dirty Filthy Records.
You can follow Tren Go! Sound System on social media here…
The last couple of years have been hard for us all and we’re starting to see the experiences of this tumultuous period coming through in the art of today. None more so than the music we are listening to. Such is the preface to the new album from Maryland based musician Sean F. Schultz aka Soñder.
Broken in Placeis an album created to heal and to process the grief from the loss of his father. This is a pain and journey we will all face in our lives. One which we’ll all need help and support through.
The journey begins in the digitised intro to ‘SubUrban Sprawl’. Soon the drums and synths lift us into a majestic soundscape evoking a futuristic city. There’s a lovely section mid song where the track takes a quiet break making the build to the end all the more dramatic and ominous. Glorious start to the album.
‘Alarm #2’ is next. It’s a discombobulating, panic attack in musical form. It captures the anxious energy and then very cleverly flips the mood half way through a couple of times. It erupts into this purposeful, driving number before settling back into a nervous moment and back again. This one really keeps you on your toes.
The signposts are clear in the next track ‘Organ Donor’. The guitars are literally crying, screaming with the grief of loss. The song even samples the life support machines final bleeps. The pace doesn’t let up, as life doesn’t. We must process what we are hearing as you would the loss itself. Damn, this is clever songwriting.
Following this is ‘Monster Trucker’ it’s a groove driven piece with sumptuous layered guitars punctuated by glassy then creamy dark synth tones. The intensity of this music is overwhelming at times, as is grief. The cries of “is anyone out there, anyone” are utterly heart-breaking in the closing section.
The expressive guitar playing steps up a notch in ‘a Maze in’. they genuinely sound like the cries of anguish, of confusion. Shultz is pushing his playing to the extreme on this track. Guitars soar and dive around and over each other interspersed with a spoken word track.
‘1984’ arrive awash with the most impressive synth wall of sound so far. Sounding far more uplifting and cohesive than the previous tracks, almost like a moment of calm or lucidity has befallen Schultz and his optimism is shining through.
It’s with a heavy wink of the eye Shultz names ‘Black Notes Matter’. Thundering piano notes pound as the guitars and drums scrap it out. After a short peaceful interlude, the track kicks back in and escalates to frenetic workout. This occurs a couple more times. The quiet section only making the louder piece more potent, more powerful.
We head down to the ‘Underground’ next. Traversing this song in the regular rhythm of the carriage as it moves steadily, station to station. There’s a palpable sense of contemplation here. Almost like we are taking some time out to ponder our place in life. Sombre synth tones carry the bass notes while the guitars and drums add that metallic element to the soundtrack of this journey. It’s a really effective use of music to convey imagery to the listener.
‘Horror Bull’ has us back in that anxious mode. The descending bass adds a claustrophobia hitherto untapped on this album. This leaves the synths and guitars free reign to play with our panic and existential dread. It’s a heavy, unrelenting and unforgiving track. All the more effective that way. To me it signals the very nature of grief.
Next up is ‘Outer Lude 4.24’. This is an upwards facing song, like screaming to the heavens at night. Where the drums have dictated the pace throughout the album it’s the synths stepping into that role here. Could this be symbolic of the head taking control again from the emotional beat of the heart? I’ll let you decide.
We close out the album on a more chilled note with ‘S.O.B.’. It’s almost balladlike in contrast to the extremes of the preceding tracks. Whilst there is a kind of acceptance in the pace and more stripped back nature if this song there remains that undercurrent of anxiety. To me this says that grief isn’t a process you go through. It’s something that lives with us forever. Sometimes it’s there at the forefront of our minds, bringing us to our knees. Other days it’s there to remind us of the good times and to keep our loved ones close forever.
In Broken in Place Schultz has crafted a deeply thought-provoking album that challenges all our pre conceptions of loss and our reactions to it. It is immensely affecting and will reward repeat listening’s with more layers of meaning. More discoveries in its stunning mix of synths and guitars.
Broken in Place is available now on CD and digital via Bandcamp.
I’m a sucker for a hook and punchy guitar riffs. Which is why I was buzzing to get a mail from my pal Andrea Caccese of Italian band Dead Rituals. Last March I covered the release of a killer acoustic track from the band called ‘When The Lights Are Out’. They have just dropped their latest single ‘Sober’. Of the band Caccese had this to say.
“Dead Rituals is a band with a focus on creating music that blurs the lines between punk, dream-pop and shoegaze. The group’s music is often notable for its darker, angsty tones, but this new track dives into a brighter, uplifting vibe. “Sober” is no-frills, colourful and fun, embracing the band’s yearning to just get out there and play music.”
I couldn’t wait to dive in.
The track opens on delicately picked guitar and gently sung lyrics. It’s not long though until the song explodes with ricochet drums and powerful guitars. Then there’s the chorus.
Wow! It just takes off and soars! The backing vocals of Brita Penfold adding that extra something that just lifts the song even higher. ’Sober’ just screams hit! This track deserves to be charting all over the globe.
Check out the video here then head on over to Bandcamp and buy the song and while you’re there check out Dead Rituals back catalogue.
El Paso Texas is a simmering hotbed of musical talent. I seem to be mentioning the town more and more in my blogs and radio shows. Hailing from the border town come two amazing shoegaze bands, joining forces to release a split EP.
First up we have Get Well. I’ll let them introduce themselves.
“Get Well are a four-piece band fronted by Julian Martinez. Julian’s themes of growing pains and heartbreak drive the songs that don’t sound familiar, but feel familiar.
This family filled band distinguishes genres of Midwest emo and Shoegaze to an organic blend of music.”
Secondly, we have the power quintet Intentions. Here’s what they have to say.
“Intentions combine slow, incoherent tones and warm embraces of reverb to artfully establish the link between heavy guitars and heart-breaking nostalgic themes. With the crashing undertones and gloomy melodies, Intentions builds a distinctive connection that pushes the envelope of Shoegaze and Slowcore.”
Ok guys I’m sold. Let’s dive in and see what this EP sounds like.
Get Well get us underway with the percussive gaze of ‘Death Floatz’. Drawing influence from the Relapse Records stable of bands like Nothing and Cloakroom this is reassuringly heavy. The blissed-out fuzz washing over the breathy vocals. The rifle crack drums and muted bass, it’s all that good stuff. We’re off to a great start.
‘Bleed With You’ draws more on The Jesus and Mary Chain as influence. That said, it’s a gloriously strident song. Triumphant in parts even. The song makes great use of dynamics to keep the listener on their toes. Without doubt my favourite of their two songs on show here.
They hand the baton to Intentions with their song ‘Home’. This band have a dreamier approach with the song opening over heavily modulated guitars and softly sung vocals. That calm is quickly punctured in the choruses with an onslaught of fuzz and distortion. I absolutely love how the song builds and builds in intensity.
Intensely is how their second number, ‘V’, opens. Sludgy and gloomed out chords ring out before receding and the gentle flow of the verse takes over. It’s only temporary though as the chorus brings the noise. This song is paced beautifully. Everything has its space and there’s absolute clarity in the mix. Even though this track clocks in at over six minutes, it just doesn’t seem long enough. I loved this track, definitely my favourite of the two.
These two bands really complement each other’s styles and if heavy gaze is your jam, then this EP will make you very happy indeed.
The Intentions // Get Well EP is out on June 3rd and is available over on Bandcamp.
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