New Orleans duo Belong recently released their second album, which should help to kick start the late eighties shoegaze revival. From the scree of feedback which opens first track Come See, we are thrust into a world where vaguely distorted, backwards guitars and mumbled, indistinct vocals are king. In other words, My Bloody Valentine territory, with some soaring basslines and nods to some of the best of eighties-era indie..
Some Jesus and Mary Chain style drum machines circa 1987 manifest themselves on Never Came Close (a vaguely MBV style title), while A Walk takes us back further in time to The Cure’s gloom-period, with some strangely vulnerable vocals. The effect is like Nick Heyward (ask your parents) singing something off The Cure’s Faith.
The Joy Division-influenced Perfect Life completes a grand tour of 1980s-indie-in-reverse, with Robert Smith vocals. Later, Keep Still distills the ambience of 4AD/Cocteau Twins dream-pop, and Different Heart is more Cure-style melancholia.
All the aforementioned references are subtly rendered and mixed up, creating a fairly homogenous gloom-fest. It’s a strong monolithic slab of music, which will appeal those who like their tunes a little darker. The one fault I would have is that the tracks themselves don’t really evolve much beyond the admittedly excellently performed template.
Fans still holding out for a new My Bloody Valentine release should get their hands on this and hold it very close indeed.
By Killian Laher.
