Billed as purveyors of ‘noisy shoegaze’, the first track of this Newcastle 5-piece’s debut EP’s, entitled ‘Bleak Northern Beaches’ explodes with a monumental crescendo of driving guitars and crashing cymbals before a fragmentary rupture gives way to barked vocals swathed in reverb and it’s not long before the first powerhouse chorus rips forth and washes the listener away in a tidal wave of guitars.
I can’t help but feel I’ve been misled: it’s noisy, but it’s not shoegaze. It is, however, bloody good, and the seven tempestuous minutes given to this track is more than enough to convince.
The chiming guitars of ‘Safe, Safe, Safe’ may be pure post-rock, but the dynamics are more overtly rock, and the execution is in some ways reminiscent of The Twilght Sad, while ‘Newbiggin by the City’ is a surprisingly emotive number, the jangly post-rock guitars contrasting with the shouted vocals and thumping percussion.
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The closing brace of tracks, ‘Industry’ and ‘Satellites’ are perfectly fine but come as something of a disappointment in the context of the preceding numbers. They’ve got drive and a gritty northern feel to them, but struggle to clamber above the slag-heaps of moderate indie.
Tissue Culture Online
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