As the chiming, crystalline vocals of ‘Flurry Glory’ give way to equally chiming and crystalline, yet dark and dense shoegaze textures, we find Seasurfer leading us into a wonderful and wonderfully disarming sonic realm – one where classical grace meets raw walls of sound, where drift meets drive, and where haze and harmony dance together.
This opening salvo is indicative of their sound, yet only one part of the gorgeous array of music they make. If this first taste perhaps references, consciously or otherwise, the likes of Cocteau Twins’ intensity and Slowdive’s grandeur and grace, ‘Into The Noise,’ which follows, has all the hallmarks of a more conventional dream-pop sound, albeit one being occasionally intruded upon by massive sonic tsunamis.
‘Ring My Bells’ is more beat-driven, more bass-grooved, more conventionally pop-song-leaning, soaked in synth swathes, scythed through the devastation of blunt-trauma guitarwork, and ‘Passion,’ which sees the EP out, is slow and brooding, anthemic and artful, claustrophobic and crescendo-filled.
This is music writ large across the musical landscape, but graceful in its moves. It is big, but so, so clever. It echoes with the sounds of shoegaze past but points to a brighter tomorrow for the genre. It is the sound of the familiar shot through with the unexpected – classical charm and alt-rock power, dreamscape delicacy, and an accessibility not often found when wielding such intense musical weapons.
‘The Noise is Ours’ is a beautiful place to spend time, the collision point of drive and delicacy, sonic intensity and musical intimacy, volume and vitality, poise and power. Opposites can be so attractive, don’t you think?
