During the last quarter of 2025, desert rock duo ‘SoftSun’ released their second album ‘Eternal Sunrise’. Since their debut LP was a near flawless slice of deep psych infused desert/stoner, there was a great deal riding on ‘Eternal Sunrise’ in terms of overall quality, but it’s fair to say that it was everything fans of the debut could’ve hoped for.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
DRIVE THRU FACELIFT – Control / Call Him Daddy
Nilagia McCoy can often be found fronting Boston based garage pop/power pop/alternative band The Jacklights. In the main, their Drive Thru Facelift project couldn’t be any more different, stylistically speaking. Billed as “two humans and a drum machine writing a soundtrack for our dystopian times”, the duo explores a sound that blends industrial loops with deep, goth influenced bass grooves, creating a dark yet danceable sound that has a heart in the very early 90s.
MUSEUMS – Lost In Your Head / Can’t Stop Thinking About It
Montreal’s Museums arrived on the shoegaze scene in 2024 with ‘Sink Your Teeth In My Brain’, a two track digital release that captured a wealth of heavily treated guitar sounds and swirling atmospheres rather effectively. Coupled with a strong sense of indie-centric melodies and a clean, almost dream pop-esque vocal, the material was accessible for the style; the production values showed some obvious budgetary limitations, but the band’s bright and breezy style marked them out as an act to keep an ear for in future. Subsequent singles ‘Ur Best’ and ‘In Waves’ continued the streak of great retro sounds. With its fusion of indie and bubblegum pop, and incessant hook – sort of like a collaboration between Velocity Girl and Rilo Kiley – the latter more than suggested that Museums could be capable of delivering something much bigger in time.
VARIOUS ARTISTS – So High I’ve Been: A European Rock Anthology 1967-1973
When it comes to compilations, the UK rock scene of the late 1960s/early 1970s has been covered extensively – to the point of absolute overkill. It’s easy to feel that this is a part of musical history that no longer needs revisiting, just as many “new” articles on The Beatles, the Stones and Queen now border on being digital landfill. With that in mind, it’s always far more interesting when attentions are turned to overseas acts. Cherry Red’s rather excellent set ‘Living On The Hill’ promised “a Danish underground trip” upon its release in 2020 and subsequently did exactly what it said on the tin, giving the keener rock fan three discs’ worth of genuinely unfamiliar sounds from the North, with Blast Furnace being the compilation’s nearest to a “known” name.
SHANNON CURTIS – 80s Kids
On 2024’s ‘Good To Me’, Shannon Curtis delivered ten slabs of synth pop that sounded so authentically 80s, you might even believe a few of the songs were rarities from the era. With the album released at a time where a lot of musicians appeared to be obsessed with the 90s, this even more retro sound hit like a musical ray of sunshine. At the album’s best, the bright sound – heavily reliant on unnatural sounding keys and a strong vocal – showcased some great choruses. The multi-voiced ‘Serenity’ could’ve been culled from an old teen film soundtrack; ‘Sweat & Butterflies’ worked a pulsing heart that had clearly been inspired by OMD’s ‘If You Leave’ and a couple of Fiction Factory numbers, and the title cut showcased a great contrast between big beats and a more sedate voice, ending the record in a slightly more thoughtful manner. Even with a couple of tunes adding slightly more of a light goth/dreampop reverb, this was a record that offered a lot of entertainment for the 80s obsessed listener.