Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Haunted House EP




This is a “debut” E.P. but not really. The band members have been writing, performing (or just jamming) together, on and off, for ten years – most notably, through the late 00’s, as a live/touring back-up to singer/songwriter Randy Chabot for local dream-pop project Deastro. 

That means: no messing around – these studious gear-heads know what they like and already do it well, i.e. gloaming shoegaze with gleaming new wave. 

The vocals are low, mysterious murmurs while the bass, stoking fast, furtive grooves, goes even lower. The guitars, soaring above it all and trailing fuzzy jet streams of reverb, distortion and a dab of echo-effects, take the melodic lead on each track (evoking that nuanced middle-ground between Johnny Marr and Jonny Greenwood), while live drums nimbly kick and cymbal-tap along to a drum machine that prattles on like it’s 1980-something. 

You’d wanna hit the dancefloor, if those racing-tempo rhythms didn’t otherwise suggest some dreamy, ponderous late night burn down some endless, empty freeway. 

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