Tag: sheogaze

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Phoenix’s Glixen Shares Stormy “lick the star”

Phoenix-based shoegazers Glixen — Aislinn Ritchie (vocals), Esteban Santana (guitar), Keire Johnson (drums) and Sonia Garcia (bass) — was founded back in 2020 by the band’s Aislinn Ritchie, who then enlisted Santana, Johnson, and Garcia to complete the band’s lineup. Emerging from a scene of local DIY artists, the quartet’s unique sound and look set them apart from their counterparts and led to tours across the US alongside bands like Narrow Head, Cowgirl Clue, MSPaint, Hotline TNT, and They’re Gutting A Body of Water. 

Glixen’s debut EP She Only Said was released last summer through Julia’s War Recordings. The EP saw the band adding themselves to a list of contemporary shoegaze outfits actively pushing the genre in a new direction — through a approach that incorporates ethereal pop vocals and shimmering guitars that are meant to guide you toward the feeling of true self-expression. 

Building upon a growing profile, the Phoenix-based shoegazers’ highly-anticiapted Sonny DiPerri-produced sophomore EP quiet pleasures is slated for a February 21, 2025 release digitally through AWAL and on vinyl through Wichita Recordings. The EP will feature previously release singles “sick silent” and two singles I wrote about on this site:

“foreversoon,” a woozy bit of shoegaze built around fuzzy and melodic power chord-driven guitars, thunderous drumming and Ritchie’s tender and ethereal falsetto paired with enormous hooks and choruses. “foreverspoon” sees the Phoenix-based outfit taking up a much heavier sound that seemingly channels Souvlaki-era Slowdive, Nowhere-era RIDE, and contemporaries like JOVM mainstays Blushing. “‘foreversoon’ represents blissful moments of new love and intimacy,” Glixen’s Aislinn Ritchie explains. “The song harnesses melancholy chords, layered with fuzzy red melodies and gliding guitars that pull you in deeper. I wanted my lyrics to feel like a conversation that expresses my infatuation and sensuality. Time is relentless and memories are fleeting, this song encapsulates those emotions forever.”

“lust” is a woozy track that sees the band continuing to explore a heavier sound — but this time channeling 90s grunge and nu-metal with fuzz and distorted pedaled power chords, down-tuned bass and blissed out rhythms. Ritchie’s yearning vocal ethereally floating over the brooding and muscular arrangement. “lust” is about the yearning and wanting of somebody and the rush that that person makes you feel,” Glixen’s Aislinn Ritchie explains. “It is a feeling that is shallow, yet it feels intense and passionate but only for a moment. We wanted to take the direction of our sound to a heavier place. I wanted the weight of the sound to crush me.”

The Phoenix-based shoegazers celebrate the announcement of their second EP with another single from it, “lick the star.” Beginning with an eerily atmospheric and brooding sound bath-like introduction reminiscent of Cocteau Twins and Slowdive, “lick the star,” quickly turns into a wall of sound of fuzzy and swirling guitar textures, thunderous drumming paired with Ritchie’s ethereal yet plaintive delivery before ending with bursts of feedback.

“This song is special, it begins with a mellow sonic bath of an intro and explodes into a whirling wall of sound and melody,” the band’s Aislinn Ritchie says. “Also, we are excited to announce our first full US headline tour. This is going to be a very busy and fun year for us!”

2024 has been a busy year for the rising Phoenix-based quartet. They’ve played SXSW and Treefort Festval. They’ve also had opening slots for acts like Interpol, DIIV, Nothing., Tanukichan, Turnover, Glare, Glitterer, Softcult and Fish Narc among others.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Currently cloaked in a bit of mystery, the reclusive members of the up-and-coming indie rock act ilu split their time writing, recording and residing in Tallinn, Estonia and rural Wales, and from their first official single “Graffiti Hen Ewrop,” the Estonian-Welsh band specialize in a sound that draws from krautrock and shoegaze as the song is centered around a motorik groove, swirling feedback, shimmering keys, ethereal vocals, angular bass chords and a soaring hook — but underneath the song’s anthemic nature, is an aching and wistful longing.

As the band notes, the song’s lyrics came in a rather organic fashion, as they were driving around a snowy Tallinn on Christmas Day, full of deep grief and sadness. “I had just lost my father a few months before moving to Tallinn and I was dealing with my grief and my own confusion that was crippling at the time. The album was written and recorded there in a small flat in Merivälja looking across the harbour over at the old medieval town, it is very much a journey back into the light”.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Michael Young, Ryan Hayes, Ryan Cross, Glen Scheidt and Travis Girton, the Portland, OR-based indie rock quintet King Who will be releasing their Hutch Harris-produced sophomore full-length album Giant Eye through SELF Group on August 17, 2018 — and reportedly, the album finds the up-and-coming quintet expanding upon their sound as they increasingly incorporate elements of New Wave, post-punk and dream pop  while retaining the heavy bass of their full-length debut Us Lights. Interestingly, Giant Eye‘s first single, the slow-burning “Ice Cream” sonically finds the band drawing from shoegaze and dream pop as the song is centered around shimmering guitar chords, a propulsive rhythm section, a soaring hook and Micheal Young’s plaintive falsetto — and while the song draws from 120 Minutes-era all rock, it has a clean, modern production sheen that makes the song a bit anachronistic.

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Up-and-Coming Swedish Band Pale Honey Perform “Heaviest of Storms” at Tapetown Studios

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past few months, you may know that the Aarhus, Denmark-based recording studio  Tapetown Studios  and  Sound of Aarhus have a long-running series in which they invite both touring bands to come into the studio for a live session; but along with that the band during their limited downtime would get a unique taste of Aarhus beyond the touring routine of load-ins, sound checks, shows, tear downs, pack ups and van rides to the next gig. Recently, Tapetown Studios and Sound of Aarhus invited Gothenburg, Sweden-based trio Pale Honey for a session — and the trio, comprised of Tuva Lodmark, Nelly Daltrey, and Anders Lagerfors performed “Heaviest of Storms (Devotion, Part 1)” a shimmering and moody track that reminded me quite a bit of early PJ Harvey.