I hadn’t listened to The Patience before I spoke to Wyatt aka St. Marie Records about the bands I should include in this feature. Now I have and I’m wondering why no one apart from SMR had pushed me in their direction sooner.
It could be because they don’t have a steady sound. I’m working here on the basis of the two EPs they put out within six months of each other – separately but together – The Sun Is Always Pt. I and The Sun Is Always Pt. II. I wish I had had the chance to ask why they didn’t just wait a bit and put out the one especially since there’s no sign of a physical release to make it a collectible. It could be that they’re realists who are aware of how easily distracted internet listeners are. It’s wiser to put out a few small releases a year (less commitment on the part of the listener + less chance of falling out of an audience’s collective memory) than one or two biggies (longer download/stream time, more commitment required from the listener + greater odds that a lot of them will go ‘who?’).
‘Space Farewell’ – the first song on the first EP couldn’t have a more apt name. It’s about five different styles of song in one and fiercely reminiscent of the Nineties. Just what part of the Nineties it is reminiscent of, I can’t place, but I can tell you that it’s not the shoegaze bits. The song isn’t exactly what you’d call simple in structure – its pop base is interrupted by sounds from outer-space whose alienness is only heightened by the patient voice with HALlike intonation talking down to you.
‘I’m Going’, the track that follows, is barely anything like its predecessor. This is your standard Slowdive-tinted shoegaze – but the later one – the one that uses pauses, false percussion, loops and echoes. It’s Pygmalion all over the place – some sounds from ‘Rutti’, some from ‘Crazy for Love’ and some from ‘Miranda’. The rest of the album might be in there as well. The title track that closes the EP, nicks a guitar line from The Who (or it could be I’ve been watching too much CSI), a mild vocal hook from A Storm in Heaven and glues it all together with percussion that throbs so violently it makes the track feel like a remix.
The opener on Part II is another runner. Can’t tell if that percussion is real or engineered but if ‘Moving Through The Echoes’ had feet, the drums are the sneakers pounding. ‘In Vain’ is a bonkers track compared to the others, with the possible exception of ‘Space Farewell’. If ‘Space Farewell’ is Dissociative Identity Disorder, ‘In Vain’ is Mania. Not bipolar disorder but all out mania. It’s energetic, overactive, and can’t stop talking at (AT!) you about itself until it tires itself out. Finalement, you’ve got ‘Solar Fields’ – the song to sleep to. Soft, drawn out vocals, endless pauses between beats, small little beepyboops, and your standard shimmery. sparkly, ethereal, <insert shoegazeadjective> waves of sound to cushion it all.
If all this sounds convincing, you know where you have to go to try and buy. Both albums are available on SMR’s Bandcamp for less that $3 apiece.
Voici: The Sun Is Always Part I.
Voilà: The Sun Is Always Part II.
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