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There has by no means been a greater time to be a fan of shoegaze rock. Not solely do you have got entry to your entire catalogues of the scene’s foundational elders – Slowdive, Journey, My Bloody Valentine, and so forth,. – however there are good new albums rising on a regular basis, Maria Somerville’s Luster in April, Wisp’s If Not Winter simply final month. And whereas solely sure songs on their respective debuts might precisely be bracketed throughout the style, each Rocket‘s forthcoming R Is For Rocket and Die Spitz‘s One thing To Devour profit from shoegaze influences.
Arguably then, there’s by no means been a greater time for Leuven quartet Sluggish Crush to launch a brand new file. The Belgian quartet’s vocalist/bassist Isa Holliday says that the overarching themes on the band’s third long-player Thirst cope with “the fragility of human connection, and the complexity of affection and self-identity”, and whereas it is unlikely that her lyrics are the very first thing {that a} listener will latch on to, provided that her vocals are swathed in results and buried within the combine, there is a sense all through the file of drifting and dislocation, distancing and desires of sentimental embraces.
In truth it isn’t very important that each that means is unpicked: in a press assertion accompanying Thirst, the band say “We wish to let folks take a second for themselves and let the music take them wherever they want to go.” It is a file that you just really feel, and as such, it is filled with great little particulars – the saxophone that brilliantly cuts by way of the mist on Covet, the gorgeous guitar harmonies offering a mattress for Holliday’s beautiful vocals on Haven, the best way the drums maintain again and drag on Bloodmoon. There is a vulnerability to the sound, however energy too, evoking a refusal to settle or submit if you instinctively know that you just’re value extra. It peaks fantastically with close-on-six-minutes nearer Hlýtt, the Icelandic phrase for ‘heat’, which appears like Deafheaven jamming with Sigur Rós. And if that concept does not get you excited, then you definitely’re both studying the incorrect overview, or already lifeless.
