How does a band exist for 26 years sounding like this? One can only surmise that it is precisely because they do sound like this?
I have never heard anything quite like it that's for sure. In some ways it doesn't sound like it should work, not quite right you know? The music is just a sprawling mess that might just be badly recorded and then plonked on top of it, seemingly as an afterthought, are almost flat female vocals. Yet together they make for an entirely mesmeric affair that make you feel kinda weird in a good way. One listen and you're hooked. Thank God for the underground bubble and thank God for Fire Records (true to form) for bringing this beautiful music to a wider audience.
'Cross Over' leaps into life and practically protrudes from the speakers and I WANT MORE! They give me 'Out Of Reach' and submerge the vocals a bit more. You might think it was shoegaze were it not for the cavernous juggernaut of a band playing in the background. It is a runaway train with some poor soul strapped to the front of it singing her heart out. 'My Eyes Out' is pure sludge from start to finish, by which point I am on my knees praying to the God of mud.
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'Moment To Moment' goes into acid fried, acoustic country territory and whilst it feels a bit looser it still has its foot firmly on your throat. It also adds flute to the mix which gives it an ethereal quality. 'Under The Pines' has the air of a more traditional song with the vocals taking the lead and the band bubbling away underneath and the drums driving the track forward. "I'm so happy I could cry", mirroring my thoughts upon listening to this album. 'Effigy' completes this epic album by not giving a shit about how completely epic it sounds.
The press release describes it as "cathartic dream pop wrapped in a delicately constructed barbwire shroud" and I am ashamed to say that I can't describe it any better than that. Undoubtedly this will come to be considered one of the years finest releases. What will they do now the bubble has burst?
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