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5 out of 10
Every so often a band comes along with comparisons to My Bloody Valentine, I always feel just a bit sorry for the band in question because:
1. It is too easy to sound like MBV but impossible to be MBV.
2. Really if we are honest shoegazing is a hard sell; even the label is a jibe that stuck.
Gliss come very close to making a great record with Beauty. The squabbling guitars are balanced just the right side of falling out over feedback and the Hammond-organ-esq keys tie the chorus together neatly with a musical ribbon.
If only this track was instrumental.
Everything falls apart when the vocals arrive; the bad Julian Casablancas (the Strokes) impression is frequently painful to the ear and always inappropriately mixed for the track. Sitting on top of the mix the vocals add an inelegant poppy element to the track, as if deliberately trying to avoid the classic shoegazing, vocals as instrument, production.
Beauty has some elements that live up to its name but, disappointingly, just can’t carry them all the way through leaving an unsatisfying awkwardness at the end of the track. Credit has to be given for avoiding the My Bloody Valentine photocopier routine but the formula isn’t quiet right yet. Gliss are by no means a lost cause but for now I’ll be sticking with M83 Teen Angst for my contemporary gazing fix.
Listen: www.myspace.com/gliss
Tracklist:
1. Beauty
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