Every now and then I like to take a little sugar with my shoegaze. Not too much, mind you. Just a pinch is all I really need. Too much sweetness can ruin anything, everyone knows that. I’M GLOOMY AND MISUNDERSTOOD. So keep your pink chiffon and coffee milk to yourselves, pansies, and don’t go sugaring up my stuff. *gazes pointedly at shoes* Whatever.
Anyway.
What I’m trying to say is: very few dream/noise pop bands are capable of striking this delicate balance of saccarine and gloom without me wanting to beat them to death with pixie sticks, but Baltimore four-piece the Thrushes juggle the precarious elements with a deft hand. All of the staples of quality shoegaze can be found on their debut record, Sun Come Undone, but woven inbetween the feedback and distortion is a sweetness that sets the band’s sound apart. The songs are loosely structured and dreamy, and the vocalist’s honeyed voice emerges out of the noisy reverb to sprinkle sugar on everything. It’s just sweet enough to make me feel all fuzzy inside, but not so overly sweet that I get the sudden urge to smash Barbie dolls and litter their severed limbs all about and make babies cry and whatnot. Her vocals perfectly balance out and complement the dreamy noise that exists within.
The Thrushes have done their homework, too. They reference everyone from the Jesus and Mary Chain to Joy Division to Yo La Tengo, but do so in such a way that it is non-blasphemous and subtle. When working within a “genre” (if we have to name names), such as shoegaze, it’s difficult to build upon the foundation of the forerunners while still managing to sound unique. The Thrushes pull this off masterfully, as their nods to the past serve only as starting points from which they spin their own brand of sweetened shoegaze.
Sun Come Undone is a strong first release from a talented band that’s doing everything right. I recommend this record.
Release date: 18/06/2007
Label: Birdnote Records
Rating: 8/10
4 Comments »
i know! those words flash neon over my head.
…….
*giggle* or something.
anyway, i think you would like it, sam. i thought of you when i first heard it.
This is a great review! Well worded and also makes me want to give this band a listen. x!
meredith! xoxo thanks. and i think you’d enjoy this record tons.
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Comment by Sam E. — July 2, 2007 @ 12:01 am
I always think of you as GLOOMY AND MISUNDERSTOOD. In caps, just like that.
This sounds like an album I’d enjoy, btw.