Opening with the one track that I’m already familiar with, and, it has to be said, fell hard for immediately, ‘Summer In Galt’ it seems, is both the perfect song to use as a toe-in-the-water first encounter experience for the album, but also proves to be only one aspect of the band’s exquisite sound. Blending those classic sounds that bubble up at the sonic subduction zone where dream pop is assimilated by bigger shoegaze textures (or vice versa) with a totally contemporary take on hazy, harmonious alt-rock, it ticks plenty of boxes for old hands and young, discerning music fans alike.
As always, it is what comes next, the journey into the unknown, which is always the test, but as I could have easily predicted, it is a test that they pass with flying colours. ‘Angeli’ corrals those same hazy textures and scuzzy guitar tones into something perhaps slightly more pop-aware, accessible but still very much of the underground world and ‘Windmills For Miles’ reminds me of pre-pop, Gala era Lush, and any song that does that is going to be a lifelong friend of mine.
All that in just the first three songs.
‘Emily’s Star’ pushes further into brooding college rock territory, ‘Drink And Sway’ shows that when they turn on the growling guitars, boy do they growl… and groove… and ‘Rendered Obsolete’ ends on a chiming, spacious, sonically fractured, Cocteau Twin-ish note. And while I’m thinking about that seminal band, I will mention that it is the same blend of sublime, though somewhat more legible, vocals and ornate instrumentation that goes a long way toward making FINITE. such a fantastic experience.
An album as glorious as I hoped it would be? Yes, and then some.
Website
Facebook
Bandcamp
Instagram
YouTube
