|
|
|
The debut Always, Sometimes, Seldom, Never from Tears Run Rings is sort of an interesting case in that it was put together over a three year period by the swapping of CD-R’s and of course use of the internet. These days it seems like that sort of practice is becoming more common where collaborations can take place without even having to leave your home. It’s just kind of neat I guess. But anyway…
Always, Sometimes, Seldom, Never is the first full-length from the LA/Portland/Seattle based Tears Run Rings. The band experienced a nice reception to their first EP A Question and an Answer last year when it topped out at # 1 on the ToneVENDOR top sellers list. Already with their latest release they are sitting at # 7 and I have no doubt it will be climbing in the months to come. Featuring ex-members of the mid-nineties indie-pop/twee outfit The Autocollants, some of the bands jangly pop rhythms can still be plucked out of Tears Run Rings’ heavily shoegaze centric sound. The overall result of it is quite nice too adding a bit of an uncommon element to the style that is usually dominated by distortion. The male/female vocal combination that the band features sort of adds to this effect as well. Tears Run Rings have put together a very solid debut and make a case to be considered one of the top groups amongst the current shoegaze crop. It’s well worth checking out. For those looking to pick up Always, Sometimes, Seldom, Never it can be currently had over at ToneVENDOR. For fans of shoegaze, this is definitely an album that has to be checked out. reviewed by: built on a weak spot |
|
|
|
The term “shoegazer” has been way overused when describing a certain type of music but then again, so have terms like “punk”, “new wave”, “indie rock ” and however else you want to pigeonhole music. But when writing reviews you want a point of reference and for this quintet (based up and down the west coast) shoegazer fits as well as any. They are influenced by the cream of the crop of the genre (Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine and Flying Saucer Attack with dollops of Moose and Secret Shine…who they recently toured with) Their EP from last year, A QUESTION AND AN ANSWER was a nice introduction to the band but on ALWAYS, SOMETIMES, SELDOM, NEVER is where they have put it all together. “How Will the Others Survive?” is pure F.S.A. with heaping waves of guitar distortion laid overtop a bed of dreamy melody and “Beautiful Stranger” hypnotizes you with that perfect riff repeated over and over again. On “World Upside Down” they speed it up (if just a bit) and get fiercer and more in your face and “Waiting for the End” is, simply put, the best dream you’ve ever had. The band really took its time on this record, every note, every riff, every vocal right where it should be and it paid off in spades. Dive in to the new sound of tomorrow.
reviewed by: dagger |
|
|
|
Although it seems weird to consider the term, "Always" is pure retro- shoegaze. Come again? Isn't the genre too recent for such terminology? As an original fan of the field, it's shocking to note that 2008 is the 20th anniversary of My Bloody Valentin's jumpstarting "Isn't Anything" (although as ever, there were multiple antecedents, like Cocteau Twins). So, odd as it seems, this painstaking reconstruction is as aged as the slavish '77 style punk group in 1997.
The difference is that shoegaze's cgnoscenti hipness lasted five short years, and there's only been tiny cult pockets of approbation since. Too, the endlessly expansive possiblilities of modern neo-psychedelia (a scratch definition) have proved more infinite for dreampop than any monkey-can punk. So Tears Run Rings may be a dead ringer for Slowdive, right down to their torrents of cascading, distorted, and delayed guitars and ubitiquous male-female cooing, with slight seasonings of Moose, Chapterhouse, and Kitchens of Distinction. Yet, however unoriginal, TRR verge on the precipitous extraterrestrial heights of "slowdive", "Morningrise", "Catch the Breeze" and "Spanish Air". You'd never know this quintet was filesharing, trading tracks from scattered domiciles in LA, Portland, and Seattle. It sure doesn't sound mailed; it sounds nailed, in shimmer guitars from heaven, and melodies from childhood lullabies. You, shoegaze fan? You live for this, still, even 20 years on. reviewed by: jack rabid for the big takeover #62 |
|
|
|
Perhaps it’s the band members’ history within other types of indie-label pop-rock groups that helps Tears Run Rings stand out from the crowd of young, overly referential practitioners of the shoegaze/dream-pop genre. The album’s opening lyric, a clear “I will always be, will always be, in love with you”, sets up the idea that this is an album of pop songs, albeit cloaked in a wash of atmosphere, and the rest of the album follows suit. Outside of the genre trappings, “World Upside Down” is a catchy pop anthem and “Run Run Run” resembles the Magnetic Fields. That opening track, “Happiness part one”, also sets up the group’s habit of overlapping vocals. Their harmonies are lush throughout, part of an overall mood of luxury. Yet the band’s playing is also surprisingly muscular for dream-away music, with shades of Factory bands of yore. This is music that grabs you, not just music to drift away to. It’s an example of playing genre right: using its tropes while adding new life.
reviewed by: dave heaton for popmatters |
|
|
|
The intersection between shoegazer and indie pop has been established for almost as long as they have co-existed (and was cemented by Sarah Records band Secret Shine, whom Tears Run Rings toured with this spring). For fans in the significant overlap between the two genres, Tears Run Rings’ pedigree alone is cause for excitement.
The members of Tears Run Rings span the West Coast, from Los Angeles to Seattle, and include indie-pop veterans Laura Watling and other former members of Autocollants, including Ed Mazzucco and Matthew Bice, both heads of estimable indie-pop label Shelflife Records. Here they have traded twee pop for a heavy-lidded attack of gauzy production and droning, echo-saturated guitars, but they have not sacrificed melody: the songs feature the lovely kind of boy-girl vocal harmonies common to countless indie-pop bands and signature shoegazers like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive. The album, bookended by “Happiness Part One” and “Happiness Part Two,” reveals a range of moods. There’s a note of foreboding in “How Will the Others Survive?” “Fall Into Light” shimmers like sunlight on water, and “Waiting for the End,” with lead vocals by Watling, is dreamy and melancholy. Album highlight, “World Upside Down,” brings a bit of jangle and nods back to the early ‘90s with a hit of the good old Manchester beat. “Run Run Run” is appropriately propulsive, with plangent baritone vocals and hints of New Order in the guitars. Tears Run Rings completed the album long distance Postal Service-style, exchanging digital files via mail and the internet, but the seamlessly layered songs betray no sonic evidence of physical or psychic disconnection. This rewarding and heartfelt album was worth the extra effort, handily living up to the promise of its pedigree. reviewed by: mike baehr for preformermag |
|