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Rating: If lately you have been listening to too much obscure and noisy stuff and you need to refresh your ears; if you're a 90s nostalgic and you miss the times when your walkman was dominated by bands like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, and the like; if the balm for your spirit is usually found exclusively in daydreaming; in these and many other cases, this shoegaze milestone will suit you perfectly.
It must be said, the strength of the work in question certainly does not lie in originality and innovation, in the sense that, in terms of form, it inserts itself quietly among the sounds of many other bands of the era, with various genre-specific stylistic features, above all the ethereal and dreamy tone of both Ian Masters' male voice and Meriel Barham's female voice. What makes the album noteworthy, however, is the sincerity with which it seems to have been conceived, that spontaneous and never over-the-top approach to composition that gives the whole both smoothness and flow on one hand and various moments of pure class on the other. The arrangements are always thoughtful and never self-serving, the anxiety to reach the listener at all costs is never felt, nor to amaze or surprise them. Whether due to the intimate nature of the songs or the gentle attitude of the band, the music of this album lives quietly, shunning protagonism to devote itself exclusively to the formalization of the dream. Emotional dynamics sighted yet elusive, landscapes, and moods that, in their inability to be described, are more simply (?) celebrated.
The music. The album alternates more spirited moments (the initial "Throwing Back The Apple", a sort of "Freak Scene" in shoegaze style; "Ordeal", which sounds like the real U2; "Hunted", the most angular, thanks to the energetic drumming, at odd times and the guitar outbursts) to others more strictly enchanting and atmospheric ("Thread Of Light", "Shell", "Hair Shoes", "Neverending Night", "A Thousand Stars Burst Open"). In general, the smooth and homogeneous sound is enhanced by an eclecticism noticeable more in the details than in the entire structure of the tracks.
I could go on, add more detailed information, some further indications... it would be like trying to catch a ghost.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Ordeal (03:58)
dreaming too long
wake up
hear ? ocean roaring ??? feeling
making fishes mouths inside your skin
now your senses
grow impatiently
feel the light is landing
on the surface of your being
like you're dragging an old dress along a floor
06 Hunted (07:42)
never alone
sticks fast to him
as shadows loom (?)
it tracks him everywhere he goes
surgeon's hands
the only way
to free him from
the one he begs will disappear
feels free in his sleep (???)
but there no such peace
waits for him to awake
laughs in his face
falls to his embrace
never alone
says to him
shadows long
shadows everywhere
false freedom is sleep (???)
but there's no such peace
waits for him to wake
laughs in his face
falls to him
false freedom is sleep (???)
but there no such peace
waits for him to awake
laughs in his face
falls to his embrace
false freedom is sleep (???)
but there's no such peace
waits for him to wake
laughs in his face
falls to him
false freedom is sleep (???)
but there no such peace
waits for him to awake
laughs in his face
falls to his embrace
07 Hair Shoes (05:48)
how long can i contain
this wretched that no cure can tame
feel it coursing through me still
never knew that i could so ill
your wings are over me
if only i'd the strength
to try
to hide
watch me fall apart
but leave me with my heart, my heart, my heart
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