Well, someone knows exactly how to reel me in. You put a quote like “C86 meets Sarah Records meets Creation Records” and I’m there like a shot. Okay, like a shot might be overstating things, after all, My Raining Stars has been going since 1998, and this is my first encounter with them. Still, better late than never.
The opener, “For Good” is everything that such a quote suggests it would be, a blend of spiralling guitars reminiscent of the likes of The Gigilo Aunts and a hazy, cosmic vibe that was just as gorgeous when The Church were belting it out in their early days. Ahh, to be young again!
But Thierry Haliniak’s solo vehicle has many sonic facets, his inspirations and influences seem to wander through the expected shimmering post-punk pop sound but also spread out into neighboring territories. “Better Life,” for example, echoes with that same late eighties, pre-Brit-pop indie vibrant vibe as say, The Boo Radleys, a sound heralding what lay a few years down the road as the underground went overground and “The Cost Within” blends Byrdsian jangle with infectious pop grooves in the same way as the best Paisley Underground bands did.
And then there are more ambient and elegant tracks such as “Void,” which proves that whilst the big riffs and indie-dance energies fuel many of the band’s songs, they are equally at home with understatement and restraint, similarly deft at blending the elegant and the eloquent.
Okay, so I admit I am very late to the party, but now I’m here, and it is fair to say that this is a band whose praises I shall be shouting from the rooftops. Give Momentum a spin, and you will too.
