I loved the shoegaze sound when it evolved and emanated from the post-punk melting pot, and I love the fact that, after all this time, it is not only still with us but seemingly going through a beautiful renaissance and doing so thanks to bands like retroshade. There was always something in the slightly drifting and only lightly tethered sound. Something in the dreaminess, and it is fair to say that “Ursa Minor,” their latest single, errs towards the dreamscape as much as the more riff-driven and robust end of the spectrum. And there was always something in the cavernous beauty of the sonic canvas that such songs are painted on.
“Ursa Minor,” the band’s masterful debut single, has all of that and so much more. And despite its floating forms and gentle ebb and flow between the song’s elements, there is still something easy and accessible about it, something, if not pop-infused, then certainly pop-aware, able to stand with one foot in the ambient, cinematic camp and the other in a more infectious, possibly even cultishly commercial realm.
And for a song about our connection with the less tangible, unseen world, the mystique and musicality at work here are perfect.
PS: Also, anything oozing with an early Warpaint vibe is always going to find favor with me.
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