Slow Crush :"Aurora"

This band from Belgium almost slipped under my radar. I found them clicking around on Bandcamp. They have more punk tension to their sound than your average shoe gaze band. Though the opening song is cloaked in hazy atmosphere. "Drift' does that and kind of fades into it's own smoke and mirrors. "Tremble" works much better as a song, as it's darker dynamics and female vocals create a mood more suited for me. The drums carry more of a groove to "Shallow Breath" which helps propel the song and set it part from the murky tone of the album. "Aid & Abet" has more of a droning pound to it and grooves less than the previous. When it does loses the drone it floats into a surreal sonic dream. The fuzzy over driven sound has the most in common with My Bloody Valentine, but overall at this point in the album they are reminding me more of Lush. Which is fine as most people just think of My Bloody Valentine when they think of shoe gaze.

"Collide" has a guitar tone with more in common with the Cocteau Twins, which is one of the biggest compliments I can give as Robin Guthrie has a perfect tone. This song has more of a narcotic drag to it , like something you are likely to hear on Twin Peaks.The vocals are more buried in the music. Though this album almost has to be listened to with head phones as you can hear the vocals better with the full stereo mix. I would switch the titles of the two songs, as "Beached" sounds more like a collision in the fact it's drums are almost more punk in how they carry the upbeat stomp. While "Collide" sounds more like being beached, since I commonly think of being washed up on a beach post-orgasm.

The album closes with the title track. They drums have less motion than the previous song, but more than they normally do. The guitars and vocals both float along against one another . The guitar shimmers with a density that over powers the vocals. Overall the song is a good blend of their more rock side with the ethereal nature of what they do.I'll round this one up to an 9 just because their is so much attention to details and emotion rather than the often detached glaze of the genre.

6.1