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Fans of shoegaze have a lot to be excited about these days. The genre that nearly died off twenty years ago is back stronger than ever. Almost too strong. There are so many shoegazey bands at this point that I don’t feel like I have any room for more in my life. Well, let me squeeze I Break Horses in somewhere because Hearts is wonderful. Besides, they’re Swedish and I don’t have any Swedegaze (I’ve coined it, it’s mine) in my collection.
The album is just plain breathtaking and nearly flawless. In addition to the regular softly sung lyrics weaved in with the distorted fuzz guitars, Hearts also delivers a good helping of keyboards to accentuate and cut through the fuzz à la M83. This is especially evident on the glorious lead track, “Winter Beats,” and the lovely “Wired,”. Both halves of this Stockholm duo get the chance to sing and the results are chilling, in a good way. Both take a vocal rest on the instrumental (and one maudlin moment on the record), “I Kill Your Love, Baby!”. With the standards established so high, “Cancer,” qualifies as a low point, but that’s not saying much. “Load Your Eyes,” strikes a familiar yet undefinable chord and the contents of “Empty Bottles,” refresh the sound pallette as they wash over you.
Is the shoegaze genre getting played out? Maybe. But there is a lot of love in these Hearts and I Break Horses deliver a heavenly debut.
I Break Horses- Hearts by Bella Union
