Tamaryn - The Waves (Mexican Summer)
On the basis of 'The Waves', San Francisco's Tamaryn wear a lot of black, but are not goths, even if they are very serious indeed. We're in the realms of shoegazing here, though not nu-gaze - this is old gaze if anything, given the sound harks back to the 60s and early 90s but lacks the more electronic sounds of acts like Ulrich Schnauss or M83.

In fact, with its guitar feedback and distortion and uncomplicated drumming, this harks back to the more garage-y sound of The Jesus & Mary Chain in the 80s, though Slowdive is another key reference point, with the somnambulant breathy vocals redolent of a slightly angrier Rachel Goswell. So far, so Mazzy Star, then.

The insistent title track meanwhile recalls My Bloody Valentine's 'Loveless', which is no bad thing. And whilst the lyrical phrases about rain, wind and waves and so on are clichéd to say the least, there's a melodic sensibility about much of this debut album that bodes well for the future.

Promising.
MS

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