Airiel "The Battle of Sealand" (Highwheel)
By Tim Bugbee
Wednesday. Aug 22, 11:32 AM
Excellent practitioners of the shoegazer craft.

Shoegaze is back, and it's in the guise of Airiel. Opener “Introduction” has that muffled drum and gauzy feel of prime Slowdive, and its follow-up “Thintank" is all about the Pale Saints sound, straight down to the driving beat and vocal melodies. Third song "Thrown Idols" sees the band tearing a page out of the MBV playbook, especially that slightly queasy guitar-stringbend tone and quick, Colm-esque drum fills. Not to stop the karaoke session, the next song "Sugar Crystals" has a Cocteau Twins gleam to it, albeit if they started using sugar crystal meth. The excellent guitar solo of “You Kids Should Know Better” evokes prime-era Ride, sounding just like Andy Bell scorching out some tones (too bad he's been demoted to bass over at the Oasis camp, but the pay's likely better). Over time, the “let's guess what Creation band is being aped next” does get a bit old, and having grown up with listening to the originals in their prime, the punch of this particular record is severely lessened. But if this sort of sound is new to you, these guys are pretty excellent practitioners of the craft.
www.airiel.com
www.highwheelrecordsllc.com

Listen to a song from this album in our Radio section!

Tim Bugbee

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