“And underneath it all is still my downfall.”
I am always down to discover more shoegaze artists. I find the genre has talent everywhere, and the nature of the sound allows for a transparent look at the band. Philly natives, Timelost, have added their personal touch to the genre via elements of grunge and nu-metal, and it largely makes for an enjoyable end product. That style is on display on their upcoming 2nd full-length album, Drained, out this Friday via Church Road Records.
Despite my intro, the band does venture into more derivative sounds akin to a more standard alt rock cut. Take the opening track “Lockjaw” for example, where the song is pointedly more grandiose and pop oriented than some of their other material. This is especially true regarding the vocal delivery by Shane Handal. There’s a section of the track where a shoegaze type guitar tone and strumming pattern comes into play, but it’s not married to that sound.
“Diet Strangers” has a catchy opening riff that maintains a solid amount of energy throughout the track, but I do find the topline to be a tough sell for the most part. The more quaint bridge saves the song, however, as it’s a simple but peacefully vibey section. It then leads into the outro, both of which are juxtaposed by the rough-around-the-edges lyric of “this world is fucked with people like you around.”
“Eternal Vibe” is so grunge, and the band seems to stand out more when they lean into this sound, for better or worse. This track certainly doesn’t reinvent the wheel, as the riffage and verses are definitely similar to songs within this sound that I’ve heard in the past. It kind of just continues this way until the track fizzles out, unfortunately. The following track, “Everything’s A Beating (Including Yourself)” fits in the same category, as another example of a cut that’s all fabricated energy without the punch or passion that would truly fuel that energy.
Thankfully, the album stands out more from here on out. “Wet J” immediately proves my point. The song writing is noticeably more upbeat, the rhyme scheming is catchier, and the instrumental is just working better with the topline, for a more palatable and enjoyable piece of music. The switch-up halfway through the short cut is also a welcome one, as the track becomes moodier and more melodic. The best two-minutes on the album so far, but it’s a short-lived crown.
“Cranium Dent” is just a solid overall song, and the fact that the band has struggled to put together an impressive 3 minutes, but manages to nail a 6-minute track here, is a little perplexing. The drums really impress on this one, and are able to lead the track in ways that they haven’t yet had the chance to. The song overall has more breathing room than the rest of the track list, allowing it to stretch its legs. The back half being nearly all instrumental only was a great choice, making the track stand out, and paces Drained as a whole nicely. Thus, the crown is swiftly removed from “Wet J.”
The aforementioned nu-metal influence makes its strongest appearance in the penultimate track, “Another Casualty of Me.” The intro goes hard, and Handal got the message, as his vocal delivery matches the sound of the track quite nicely. Then the track ends with a pretty dissonant riff, driving home that the band wanted to get more chaotic with this one, and it’s one of the better tracks on Drained for it.
“Permablue” closes out the album as it continues the streak of solid tracks. “And underneath it all is still my downfall” is a strong lyric to write around, and the song has a good emotional energy around it. It’s perhaps not as impressive as the previous couple cuts, but it certainly has chops, especially when compared to the first half of the album. It has just enough of a dynamic nature to it and better performances than the first half.
As I strongly alluded to, I think Drained is very much a tale of two halves. The first half is filled to the brim with generic grunge riffage, and a one-note energy. There are some solid moments in there, but those moments very much get buried by the monotony. The second half of the album feels more creative and free, and allows the shoegaze elements to take the time to marinate, as the genre very much requires itself to do to be successful.
5.5/10
You can pre-order Drained here before it releases Friday, February 23rd via Church Road Records.