This shoe gaze band from Belgium basks in the atmosphere of the genre's more ethereal side. The vocals are almost obscured by the clouds of delay the guitar exhales into the opening track. Often I complain about bands who sacrifice songwriting to focus on fine-tuning a sound. The world they paint for your ears is too enthralling to really notice this fact in the first song, but by the time we make it to the second song, I begin to inquire more into their songwriting talents. The vocals do come more to the forefront. They are sung in a timidly androgynous manner, more like the band Nothing's kinder gentler side. It becomes a case where this is effective for what they are doing, but I will be listening even more closely to see where they go in terms of hooks and dynamics in the next song.
My questions are answered by a more Cocteau Twins-like dream pop that floats around your ears. The vocals are not as otherworldly as Liz Fraser's by any stretch of the imagination. Instead, we get a sad boy reflecting on something less than a fairy wonderland. The vocals are more of a plaintive coo. The crystalline guitar sparkles, before they step on the distortion that finds even the overdrive painting the background of the song rather gracefully. Things grow more intense without the heaviness of a band rocking out. By the time the album floats into "Liminal People," it is clear the guitar sounds have been all dialed into to perfection and are the guiding tools from which the songs are derived.
The lyrics can barely be made out amongst the dreamy ambiance that coats the songs. The drummer is pretty solid as the songs have more of a backbone than you perceive on the first casual listen. This song finds the drummer engaging in more fills to solidify more intense dynamics. There is a very delicate feeling to the guitar that opens "Through the Glass', but perhaps this is what makes the song work as it allows the other elements more room to do their thing. It was the first time I thought, wait perhaps this guy can really sing. I would not say it rocks out, but they climax things in a manner that taps into a cool dynamic.
"Crazing" finds them heading even deeper into dream-pop. The emphasis is on the dream rather than pop regarding hooks. Once again all the sounds are in all the right places to pay homage to this era of music. "Sense of Longing" finds the fog of their sound envelops the bones of the song altogether, so you can only make out the motion of the drummer and are aware a guitar is tinkering. Edging toward the lost minute things begin to converge in an almost Explosions in the Sky-like manner.
The last song is almost more of an outro than a song as it floats by without giving you anything but ambiance to connect to. I will give this album an 8.5, while they perfectly executed and assembled these sounds there is not a great deal that is breaking new ground when it comes to shoe-gaze. If you are new to the genre or an indiscriminate fan who is just looking for new music then this band does an excellent job at what you are looking for, they are head and shoulders over the lo-fi bedroom attempts at the genre, and are flawless professionals at what they do, what they do just happens to recycle plenty of genre tropes.
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