Album Review - Tamaryn: The Waves

Is it dream-pop now rather than shoegaze?

For a long time shoegazers were looked on as the scum of the earth. To quote Nicky Wire of Manic Street Preachers “we’ll always hate Slowdive more than Adolf Hitler”. If that’s not enough proof of shoegaze’s evil, pernicious influence, Nicky continues: “Boys and girls, mums and dads, I think you're at the wrong night. This isn't Slowdive or Chapterhouse or another one of those nothing bands, you lazy lazy people.”

I think old Nicky has a point, but only up to a point. It was all going so well when it was just My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive and Ride, but once Chapterhouse, Moose (Moose! For crying out loud...) and Adorable (is there a more twee name this side of Belle and Sebastian?) jumped on the bandwagon it became a case of “more for less”, and then the mid-1990s brought the Britpop years and shoegaze was forgotten.

The rehabilitation started slowly, but around 2004 it picked up largely in no small part to the success of the Sonic Cathedral club night and subsequent record label. What followed was a raft of shoegaze-y bands like The Radio Dept, Asobi Seksu, M83, Team Ghost, School of Seven Bells and many more. The difference this time appeared to be a more joyous, pop rush attached to the overuse of the effects pedal, general drone and guitar overdubs. Hence, “dream-pop”.

The term seems to have captured disparate artists such as Best Coast, Beach House, Grizzly Bear and High Places. None of these bands could be said to be particularly similar in style, other than sharing an ear for a cracking melody. There’s also the noisier end of the spectrum inhabited by A Place to Bury Strangers and the sadly-missed Dirty on Purpose.

All this is a rather long-winded intro to a review of one of the most vibrant albums of the year so far, Tamaryn’s The Waves.

Formed by New Zealander Tamaryn (voice, one name will do) and former Vue member Rex John Shelverton (instrumentation, three names), The Waves is a dusty, atmospheric experience, full of layers of fuzzed-out guitars and drawl-y vocals reminiscent of Hope Sandovaal and even, at times, Siouxsie Sioux.

Tamaryn describes the band as “...atmospheric, emotional and deliberate. It has a big range. But if you're talking more genre-specific, I think that's a little harder because there are a lot of different things involved. A lot of people say shoegaze, a lot of people say death rock with gothic overtones. I also hear dreampop. I think it's a mix of a lot of things. It's taking a lot of things I love and fusing it through my own interpretation.”

While a lot of music in this genre seems on the verge of floating away into the air, much of The Waves is given a dynamic, solid body by the low-end sounds of the bass and, possibly, programmed drums. There’s the guitar-laden pop rush of “Love Fade”, and the more sedate and ethereal “Choirs of Winter”, and Tamaryn sound like a band confident in turning their hand to whatever mood fits.

Could be best as a headphones record, but play the album as night falls and you might experience the gothic world that Tamaryn and The Waves inhabits.