May 28, 2009

Gliss, Devotion Implosion
Cordless Recordings, April 7
Some dreary wonk, I forget who, recently wrote that “shoegaze” is a passé term, thus I’ll try to use the word 50 times here to describe Gliss’s latest, a marked improvement over their 2006 debut Love the Virgins.

I mean, forget Hyacinth Bucket, you want uptight, it’s alt-rockers. Gliss will probably get all sorts of guff for sounding too fanboyish, ripping off such-and-so and not accomplishing much else past that with this album. But they really are fans of skronky psychedelica, and nice peeps too if that counts for anything.

Much of Love the Virgins was wasted in their kid-like idolization of BRMC’s more recent stoner-droning, but there was also an experimental, finding-their-footing feel to it (which made it a bit of a failure as a cohesive album, I cannot tell a lie). Here, however, it’s a skronky fuzz party soaked in shoegaze (drink!) the way Raveonettes taught Glasvegas to do it. Sure, heavy-lidded BMRC-like skag-drone makes its mandatory appearances, and no, there’s no outright attempt to take away Raveonettes’ contract with the ghosts of the Everley Brothers, but if you’re experiencing pain as you await the next Warlocks record, or feeling particularly lonely for Jesus and Mary Chain, this is the over-the-counter fixer you’re needing. B+ — EWS