It’s a midnight swim under a waning moon. Starlit across the surface, there’s a wealth of tricks and treats concealed in its depths, ready to be uncovered with every focused listen. Floods is luscious. It’s ethereal.
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For local music, it’s novel; dark and weighty dreampop has rarely found a footing here, and this is a polished and serious contribution that should be duly recognized.
At its core, it’s a marriage of opulent post-rock and pensive, minimalistic songwriting. Built around grandiose choruses and damp soundscapes, on paper it shares a lot with its local contemporaries. In practice, it stands alone. It has a dreariness without malaise, a calmness that holds no peace. It’s full of restless meditations, delivered with a casual certainty by Mellyssa Vey.
Her versatile voice is the main melodic driver of the band, which allows everything else to meander into sonic bliss. There’s a lot of inventive work from everyone involved, and the album moves at a steady, entrancing pace.
It shines in its more reserved, introspective moments like the opening track, “Hiding.” It’s complemented by some nice backup vocal touches on “Compass,” and “Ache” is a fitting end that rightfully closes things out.
Through this all, it all gets a little lost at times, and there’s a bit of difficulty differentiating each composition. It’s consistent almost to a fault, and there’s a slight dullness in the repetition, but this comes with the territory; there’s a big shoegaze vibe, but there’s also subdued operatic pop mixed in. They’re not constantly at odds, but there’s a slight disconnect at times.
Make no mistake though, it’s all a concerted effort. It’s detailed and full of character and swirls with a wistful aura. It’s stocked with unique layers of ambience and texture, but it still breathes. This is thanks in part to Georgie Newman’s production.
This album has a lot in common with his own recent musical pursuits like “GvG,” as it’s dense and replete with diverse sounds. There’s a comfort and a familiarity with the approach, and it shows.
Floods makes the most of a large palette of sounds. It’s wickedly creative and carries an intangible earnestness throughout, twisting in and out of a maze of emotions. It’s imbued with qualities from everywhere on the musical spectrum. It stands tall, but delicate. Listen closely and you’ll get lost in it.
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