[rating=7.00]
While the heyday for shoegaze ended in the mid-nineties when brit-pop came onto the radio waves, the past few years have seen a new resurgence in popularity of the genre. My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and Slowdive have all recently released new material for the first time in over two decades and new bands are forming that are following in their footsteps. Jersey City’s Overlake takes the common shoegaze threads of billowing guitar sounds, murmured vocals, crashing drums and thick bass lines to weave together their sophomore release, Fall.
Not long into the first track, “Unnamed November,” it is apparent that Fall has a different feel than their debut LP, Sighs. The rhythms are more aggressive and the songs tend to have a tighter feel, rather than the more sprawling jams that were present on the first album. While most the band’s arrangements center around singer/guitarist Tom Barrett, the rhythm created by drummer Nick D’Amore’s use of the entire drum set and bassist Lysa Opfer’s tight, languid grooves are what make every song unique. Though Fall is only eight songs in total, most tracks clock in at over four minutes – both “You Don’t Know Everything” and “Pines On A Beach” push the seven minute mark. However, the aforementioned tracks are far from feeling too sprawling or jammy. “Pines On A Beach” is one of the standout tracks on the album as it starts out mellow with only Barrett’s vocals over a steady bassline before guitar and drums join in, all before you ever notice you are surrounded by the sound of a full band.
While most of the songs on Fall come at you with a wall of sound, each song has its own unique feel and listeners won’t find themselves bored. While fans of the genre will immediately recognize Overlake’s influences, it is obvious that they have managed to use them to create their own sound.
