Waves Crashing - Comatose (Audiomanic Records)

The band blurb clearly states that “Comatose” is a song released this very month by a band from Olympia. However, if you told me that I first heard this song in 1989 at a small club somewhere along the UK’s M4 corridor when the band in question opened for My Bloody Valentine, I probably wouldn’t have questioned the idea.

That’s how authentic to the original shoegaze sound this new one from Waves Crashing is. And that is not to say that they are in any way lifting or plundering or plagiarising that formative sound; it’s just that this is a band that knows exactly how to make music in a similar vein.

So, what we find is a song forged of just the right balance of walls of noise and waves of lush, lysergic sonics, the precise blend of heady dreamscapes and raw guitars, the correct mix of claustrophobic intensity and trippy joyousness. If there is a perfect point to be found between such bombastic salvos and sonic beauty, then this song is definitely found where x marks such a sweet, sweet spot.

And, just as a reminder that there is no such thing as a finished song, that they can have lives in other forms and sounds and styles, and do so simultaneously, this shoegaze package comes complete with a Lulu Lewis remix, which takes us more into sugar-coated, alternative dancefloor realms plus the original demo version for those who like to measure up the final piece against the original sonic sketch.

In “Comatose,” we have not only a tribute to shoegaze’s past but also a torch with which to lead like-minded fans into a glorious and bright new future for the genre.

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