Although the shoegaze and dreampop genres will be forever associated with the early 90s, there have been a wealth of great bands and artists keeping the flame alight in the twenty first century. 2024 saw some great releases from Keeley, Set Feux, Sunder, Newmoon, and many others. Even scene stalwarts like A Place To Bury Strangers were hugely prominent with a run of digital singles which gained some very positive online press.
Here’s another great act working with dreampop and shoegaze sounds: anocean (always lower case) brings together former members of Mittenfields and Thrushes. Unafraid to share some very retro sounds, their debut EP ‘climbing walls’ is the 90s imbibed treat you never knew you needed.
‘happier without’ opens with a great bass sound joined by a steady rhythm, which builds tension beneath a light, clean, dream pop inspired vocal. Within a few bars, it feels as if the listener has discovered the missing link between Velocity Girl and Chvrches, with vocalist Anna Conner immediately sharing an appealing alt-pop tone. Although her voice remains a strong feature throughout – and her ability to work a melody occasionally recalls K’s Choice vocalist Sam Bettens circa 1996 – there’s almost as much brilliance coming through the guitar work. Whether hammering through a huge indie jangle or dropping clean, high toned dream pop notes between the vocal, Kyle Franta’s playing is consistently on point. A couple of listens in, and this first taste of the anocean sound will mark itself out as something very special, even within a crowded scene.
In a slight change of mood, ‘blush’ drifts towards something louder; dense, even. By cranking the volume, Franta’s guitar work moves further towards classic shoegaze, and armed with a melody that sounds like a distant relation to early Ride, he latches on to a fuzzy, swirling riff that’s immediately impressive. Perhaps part of its brilliance comes from its familiarity: there’s a heart to the melody that sounds as if it’ll drop into Thunderclap Newman’s ‘Something In The Air’ at any second, and this continues to be the case once a second, brighter sounding guitar joins the arrangement. Sliding into something lighter for the verse, anocean adopt more of a 90s indie sound – again, with hints of Velocity Girl and their ilk – and Kyle’s lax vocal is left to drift between the layers of sound. This, of course, sets up a classic shoegaze trope where the fuzzed up musical mood outweighs any obvious hooks, but for those already familiar with some of the genre’s classic works, a “mood” will be more than ample enough to make the track work.
Kicking off with a guitar riff that sounds like something on loan from a Sonic Youth classic, ‘thread’ teases with a darker feel at first, but the arrival of Anna’s light, dream pop vocal brings a vital balance. The blend of voice and guitar takes the melody towards the melodic end of the 90s indie scale, before cymbal-less drumming beefs up the sound. Having built up a perfect piece of dreaminess, the track then explodes into a (relatively) noisier riff, allowing Kyle to work a few distortion pedals to create a huge climax. In some ways, this track shares more of a shoegaze by numbers sound, but it’s still hard to find fault with the musicianship itself. Offering something with more of an upbeat feel, and an almost pop-ish core, the title track places some great drumming beneath a very retro indie jangle. With immediate effect, the marriage between the guitar and vocal is pretty much perfect, and the optimistic sounding arrangement really shows off Anna’s voice. What’s more, a reverbed lead guitar used effectively during the instrumental break really highlights this band’s commitment to an older shoegaze sound. Unlike some of their would be peers, though, there’s more at stake here than great guitar-centric atmospheres: the chorus brings a brighter sounding pop hook, and Anna’s use of wordless vocals creates one of the band’s biggest hooks. Although anocean aren’t always concerned with instant gratification, the simple melody here has the potential to create a massive earworm.
In closing, ‘family tree’ shares one of their most accessible arrangements when they drop some of their fuzzier elements and, instead, big up more of a retro indie rock melody. The opening bars share a hint of Wire; the following verse places a superb vocal against a return to Sonic Youth-esque guitar tones, and countering the off-kilter jangle, the vocal melody brings a huge, optimistic sound. As you might expect at this point, the melodies that play out are perfect for Anna’s voice, whilst the rhythm section – featuring Pete Ryan and Dave Mann, on bass and drums, respectively – put in some hard yards holding everything together. The second half of the track veers closer to old shoegaze tropes by working a repetitious lead guitar riff, but even then, within its ringing sound, there’s a slightly more commercial edge at play. Overall, these four minutes pull together most of anocean’s chosen styles and influences, which not only makes the track a perfect showcase for the first time listener, it also ends the EP on a high, in a way that leaves the listener wanting to hear more.
Despite working to a couple of obvious musical formulae, there’s just enough variety within these five songs to show off anocean’s range of talents. Between a classic drum sound, a wealth of chiming guitars and some superb vocals, the material has an old heart, yet at the same time, it sits effortlessly alongside the works of Newmoon and Keeley in the present, as a solid reminder that a classic indie rock style can never fade. For lovers of the dreampop and the more melodic end of the shoegaze spectrum, this is a highly recommended listen, verging on an essential download.
December 2024
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