English shoegaze band Waves of Dread have penchant for adding layers upon layers and their new single Forevermore could have done with a little less of that, which would have made life easier for the vocalists and the lead guitarist to rise above the din. The main melody is rather good, but hiring an engineer who is not afraid to handle the faders would open up their sound a bit.
English shoegaze band Waves of Dread are painting with broad strokes on their new single Motion, building a wall of sound that has the vocalists having their work cut out for them to be heard. A bit of industrial has found its way into their sound, as a counterpoint for their dreampop leanings. It is a dense listening experience, but it opens up after a couple of repeats.
English indie band Waves of Dread go for a rough-around-the-edges on their latest single, Day I Did Nothing. There are countless songs about breakups, but this post-Goth excursion through numbness by way of distorted shoegaze is special. Take note of the strings arrangement, courtesy of Josh Ingledew (Spell Token). There is no light at the end of the tunnel yet. This kind of despair is still so fresh that only darkness is approriate.
English indie trio Waves of Dread give their 2019 single The Make-Believe the opening slot on their new EP Endless. Back then they were deep into neo-psychedelic rock, a genre that is still recognizable in their current sound, but thye have branched out and added ambient shoegaze (Blind) and electronic pop (Solitude) to their palette. The Jesus and mary Cahina and Britpop continue to be major influences and the two of them come together in Way It Is, a surf-tinged song with an instantly hummable melody.
Cramming such a wide variety of genres into half a dozen of songs could have resulted in recording an indiscernible mess of sounds, but they managed to keep it from falling apart. Endless flows like a continious piece of music that has "recommended late-night listening" written all over it.
English indie trio Waves of Dread have revisited Stars, a track from EP II. While that version was a pastoral , acoustic excursion, this "beach cut" is far more darker, with a groundswell of bass and drums, topped with swirling shoegaze guitar. The band took the Pixies UK Surf version of Waves of Mutilation as a template, slowing it down to enhance the melody and giving way to another meaning of the lyrics.
HCTF review of EP II.
English indie trio Waves of Dread go for a dense mood on EP II, amalgam of neo-psychedelica, post-punk and shoegaze. amidst all the effects the acoustic Stars stands out, offering a glimpse into their writing process. It's not all dark, but it takes time to digest the actual meaning of the songs. By doing so they are a cut above the bands who look back to the Eighties as their main source of inspiration. Musically they are still searching for their signature sound, which lies within reach and could be in full bloom on the next album.
English indie trio Waves of Dread turn it up a notch on their new single Motion, a fat and fuzzy track that wil appeal to fans of the fans of The Jesus and Mary Chain. It will be included on their forthcoming EP II, out on July 31th.
English indie trio Waves of Dread mix psychedelic pop and soft spoken shoegaze on their new single Artless Hearts. Plenty of echo on the guitar and muffled drums give it a classic 4AD feel. Recommended if you like Dead Can Dance and the Cocteau Twins. The track will be included on their forthcoming EP II, out on July 31th.
English neo-psychedelic band Waves of Dread channel the sound of 1967 on their new single The Make-Believe, with quite a bit of echo on the vocals and using wall-to-wall reverb. Bonus points for the longish intro, a rarity these days when the singer has to come in quickly to appease the algorithm gods of streaming services.
Brazilian blogger The Blog That Celebrates Itself invited a bunch of indie bands to tackle the songs of Nick Cave for a tribute album. These kind of projects tend be a grab bag of mediocre, really bad, and surprisingly great renditions. Death is not the end... A Tribute to Nick Cave is no exception to that rule. It's quite hard to capture the impending doom meets love and kindness vibe of arguably the finest living songwriter.
Most of the covers of this album take the safe route by sticking close to the original. Three tracks stand out: Blackout Transmission changed the tempo of City of Refuge, in itself a cover of traditional that was first recorded in 1928. Box and the Twins added the Dresden Dolls to No More Shall We Part and Waves of Dread came up with a noisy garage version of The Mercy Seat. The rest of the bands struggle to keep with those at best.
English indie band Waves of Dread have made a video for Lay, a track from their self-titled debut EP. The song is a love letter to Barcelona, a melancholic blend of shoegaze and psychedelica a la The Jesus and Mary Chain. Leo Astudillo edited the clip, using footage shot in the capital of Catalonia by the band's singer and songwriter Nick Hodgson.
