It's good to know that while much of the music world is knocking out half-arsed covers of Christmas songs for release this week, New Jersey quintet Chimes have chosen Christmas Eve as the date to give us a splendid slice of scuzzy shoegaze instead. The band formed a little over a year ago and make good use of their reasonably high number of members by making sure this track is multi-layered but that each layer has a purpose that improves the song. Apparently they began with a "lighter" sound before developing into what they describe as "heavy sparkling". 'Wipe Out' fits that bill, with its dual guitars providing each of those two aspects respectively.
Beginning with a warm and buzzing effects-heavy intro which goes on to act as the foundation for the song, it's only a few seconds later that another guitar supplies what may have been the inspiration for their name. Yes, 'Wipe Out' is laden with chiming guitar too, making for a wonderful contrast. There's nothing overly heavy about the song, but that constant distortion does provide the texture that prevents this track from turning into an indiepop number, something which it could easily be re-recorded as. They don't come up short on the tune front, and the soft, drifting vocals become entwined in the mix, providing a lovely dreamy quality to the overall sound: dreamgaze done to a very high standard.
Chimes' website
Download the single
Catch them live:
Dec 23rd Grasslands, Brooklyn
For more news, reviews and downloads follow The Sound Of Confusion on Facebook or Twitter
contact@thesoundofconfusion.com
No comments:
Post a Comment