The self-titled debut LP from transatlantic shoegaze duo, ‘Sky is Alright’ is a strong showing for a genre that has largely existed on the side-lines of more traditional rock and pop interpretations. And my word, these two are some of the best representatives that shoegaze could have asked for. Perfectly synthesizing soft, spacy, and ethereal vocals atop a more gritty foundation of distorted guitars and heavy drums. Immediately, I was taken back to early work from the Smashing Pumpkins, that melodic and understated singing alongside an instrumental backing that seems far too heavy, but somehow works.
The band began three years ago in 2018, when London-based Rishi Neal Arora penned down a handful of songs that were his way of escaping the growing despair of the world around him. While the songs were completely written, they were missing a percussive foundation. Arora’s long-time high school friend, LA-based Christopher Gregory provided the drumming backbone the songs needed. After two years of working together remotely via email, the duo got together early last year in Los Angeles to record the eight piece self-titled project. Interestingly, the band claims that their inspiration behind the songs comes from various characters in history: the astronomer Carl Sagan, the Bauhaus visual artist László Moholy-Nagy, and the avant-garde pianist Erik Satie. A beautifully experimental project, and one that has inspirations that are equally visionary.
It’s not often that a self-titled debut album also has a self-titled opening track. ‘Sky is Alright’ sets the mood perfectly — a seamless and melodic opening riff that is slightly distorted paves the way for the supple and breathy vocals to come through. “Remember what it means to be live, For a moment time it stops I’m swept ashore”. Just the way ‘Sky is Alright’ is reassuringly sung here makes the track what it is.
‘Crimson Sunburn’ takes the tempo down a notch. With a more slowed down riff and increasingly decelerated vocals, it serves as a relaxant before ‘Mistress Pessimist’ brings us right back to where we started. Perhaps the most infectious tune on the record, ‘Mistress Pessimist’ makes excellent use of the electric guitar and slightly higher pitched vocals. ‘Mistress Pessimist, by my side. Mistress Pessimist, she’ll go for a ride. Mistress Pessimist, until I die. Be my pessimist’. Pessimism never sounded so good.
‘Indigo Moon’ is a welcome differentiator. The emotive acoustic opening is markedly different from the rest of the LP till here. It also incorporates a wonderful interlude that I don’t want to spoil too much here. But my favourite on the project is the penultimate track — ‘Last Bus Home’. Longer than the rest, but far more progressive, it’s a testament to the duo’s ability to string together extended narratives and instrumentals on a singular track. The album’s closer, ‘Sun Falls Down’ is the most melancholic of the bunch. Here, the acoustic takes centre stage. Forgoing the distorted electric on the rest of the album, it’s a much cleaner, intentionally polished, and stripped back end to an exquisite debut album. It builds, and builds to a crescendo that never comes before cutting to black altogether.
Shoegaze might not be for everyone immediately, I’ll admit. But despite being a fairly acquired taste, it has the ability to be far more resonant and timeless than the rest. And for that, I have to say that ‘Sky is Alright’ by Sky is Alright is a special one. I’ve only sat with the album for a week, but you know when you’re hearing something that’s going to stick with you. Go stream Sky is Alright right now!
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