Unless you haven’t been paying attention, there’s a shoegaze revival occurring right now in Wellington.

Many new bands are defining themselves as part of this subgenre of rock; namedropping band names such as Slow Dive, My Bloody Valentine or Swervedriver and leaning into the tenants of the tradition such as utilising effect pedals to create a lush, heavily affected guitar sound, and of course, looking at their shoes whilst playing (where the name of the style originates). Other stylistic aspects include rather obscured yet ethereal vocals with powerful drums, all nicely drenched in reverb to create a rich, thick sound. The acts that fans of the genre cite are those who create anthemic choruses that juxtapose with verses that are either quiet as opposed to loud, major as opposed to minor, or melodic as opposed to dissonant. It’s a style that offers a range of options to players allowing vocals to sit amongst the other instruments rather than prominently stand apart. Guitarists also don’t usually provide much in the way of traditional rock solos either, rather they play different voicings from the bass or rhythm guitar constantly creating rich harmonies through a warbling flanger or chorus to create a wide sound. In this way, it could be considered quite appealing to many musicians; so long as the band has a competent drummer and the band is mixed properly (no easy feat), the music is not technically demanding, nor are lyrics usually scrutinized as much as other genres as they are often unintelligible through the fog of distortion and reverb.

However, as fans of Ride, Nothing, Deafheaven or Jesus and The Mary Chain will tell those willing to listen, that’s not the point; the establishment of a certain ambience while catchy melodies trick the listener into inadvertently bobbing their head to the groove is the trick.

This certainly happens on local Wellington band Libbianski’s first full-length album, Useless Splendour. This ten-track album contains an extensive range of emotions the band can wrangle from a two-guitar band, caressing the listener with pretty arpeggios one second, crushing them with a wave of pounding drums and heavy guitars the next (this happens on the intro of their song Cables). There are songs that touch on paranoia, panic, fools, wreckage and the decay of society – it reminds me of the German term for finding ruins strangely appealing: Ruinluste. The lyrical content (of what I can hear) revolves around similar themes throughout the album, as much as the trebly lead guitar, fuzzy rhythm, bouncy bass and John Bonham-like drums stay fairly unchanged in their tone between songs. However, the interplay of these sounds creates enough variety to keep the listener engaged over the ten tracks, but only just. It would have been nice to have heard the band stripped back for a song or two, an acoustic guitar or piano somewhere, but perhaps that’s just me not understanding the genre’s tradition of albums establishing a particular resonance behind a substantial amount of clandestine mystery. Certainly, when a revival is upon us, as it most definitely is now, it's best to stick to the formula already proved to work so well.

Libbianski (a name vaguely reminiscent of Slowdive’s most famous album, Slovanki) began as songs written by Kurt Williams while touring the world with his band Tuscoma (formerly known as Hollywoodfun Downstairs). The songs found on Useless Splendour were destined for another band, a band yet to exist... He found Mina Perniskie (from Secrets of The Sun, an alternative rock band with some shoegaze leanings) to sing and play rhythm guitar, and Tom LaHatte on drums (from Altar of Achlys and Battle of Endor). The album was recorded with Sam Leamy (from Opium Eater), but the bass role has now been filled with Nat Reid.

What does it sound like? It’s an analogue record, with warm fuzzy tones. Timing is not strict throughout the songs like you might expect from members that have dabbled in metal (albeit post-metal and black metal) instead organically changing slightly as the emotion of the song requires, which is usually increasing in tension during the tune. There are no weak songs to be found throughout the record, possibly from establishing an appropriate tone for the instruments and not straying very far from the formula. The ten songs are a perfect length, and I’d wager most people would be ready to hear something a little different after the last song’s distortion fades.

Useless Splendour was recorded in the Armoury Studio by Troy Kelly and mixed by Chris Johnson (bassist of Deafheaven), then mastered by Alan Douches in New York at West Side Music. With these accolades you’d be expecting great things, and the band does not disappoint. The album relies on 90’s nostalgia, not just for the shoegaze influence, but there’s moments that sound like the Stone Roses, choruses that wallop with the abandon of Nirvana or Hole, and even more modern influences like Cage the Elephant or Superheaven.

The album opens with Shiver, with a heroic, hopeful melody for a verse over a thumping and thunderous riff. The word Shiver separated by syllables creates a great tension as we are introduced to a chorus with a haunting phrase. Mina sings "we taste the pieces of eternal pastures" as if introducing the listener to what might be instore and establishing a theme that vaguely connects to the cover art. There’s a tasteful gap like the band taking a breath together near the end, and then the music stops right on the beat letting the clouds of reverb trail on.

Silver Tongue Dog, released before the album as a taster/single, offers a great little melody over a more energetic riff. There’s a danger here, a suspicious attitude that is established. "It stalks my fields, it stalks my bones" can be heard suppressed next to the guitars, perhaps hinting at mortality. Here, the guitars are really on display; the vocals are quite buried, or at least as loud as every other instrument, but the glassy lead guitar really shines. There’s a grungy chorus complete with whiny vocals that is nearly reminiscent of Machina era Smashing Pumpkins. At the end of the song, a double beat increases the tension before the instruments stop and all that remains are the chorus swirls.

Perhaps the stand out track, and most like a single, is Too Many Fools, Not Enough Horses. The track is catchy but showcases some tasteful jazzy drumming and beautiful arpeggiated chords. There are hints of 90’s Seattle bands here too, but these layers pull back to reveal reverb drenched guitar lines held together with a bass in the verse like a Pixies song. The prettily picked arpeggios create a beauty that juxtaposes the waves of distortion that answer. I particularly enjoy the double accents that demonstrate a rare moment of tightness in the band that I wish was more prominent on the album, (although Cables does just that later).

Pity Platter, also released before the whole album, is a little slower, bass driven, with a sadder more reflective vibe. Tender, emotional vocal lines set against simple lead guitar notes help outline the song. The song builds and returns to the opening motif, then at the end kicks into overdrive with a crushing riff propelled by an outstanding and powerful drum performance. The kind of song that would be fantastic to end a set on perhaps. The lyrics hint at more death symbols: "I’ve dug a shallow little hole, the moths come in and see me through, it’s a nice day without you."

Beautiful Ruins is the most like The Stone Roses, offering whispered vocals, plodding bass lines, and shiny and heavily affected guitar melodies. The juxtaposition between pretty verses and crushing minor chorus really works here. When the chorus ends and the notes drift on the listener can get a real feel for how many layers of instruments might make up the wall of sound.

Cables has some spellbinding guitar arpeggios that play against the accented crushing forces of the band at full power. This really shows off the extremes of the band. "Cut the Cables", Mina sings, "Looking behind you, its eyes are upon you…" she nearly sneers continuing the theme of paranoia. The bridge is pure dream pop, with a shuffle jazz beat and a playful bass line. Then the song builds into a crescendo to conclude (like some others).

Is That All? has some repetitive bends, then a chromatic, dissonant melody that shows the black metal influence. The evil sounding melody is perfect for the lyrics to be sung atop the grit: "we thought of everything and burned it down, the earth expels us now, healing time."

Useless Splendour has some cool atmospheric noises to open the tune and possesses the most unusual and unexpected melodies on the album. I feel like this song is the least like the others and it heralds a change in the record as the remaining songs shift from the already established sound – perhaps the most experimental songs were left for later in the playing order?

Instead of the usual lead guitar arpeggio or atmospheric noises, Peak Panic opens up with a rhythm guitar strummed pattern, and then a Sonic Youth influence can be heard with the Kim Gordon like shouted vocals over the dissonant notes. This is the most screamy Mina gets, which is interesting to hear but her voice sits better in the mix nearly whispering or gently singing rather than being pushed.

The final track, No Respect For Breathing is a haunted ballad complete with reaching a fever pitch crescendo like many others. Mina sings "this death is just believing, you’ve got no time for dreaming" which really connects all the dots lyrically and verifies the explored theme of life, illusion, mortality that is reflected on the cover art of flowers, an entity with a short lifespan, associated with both beauty and death. Perhaps, the Useless Splendour here in question is our lives in which we futilely look for logic and meaning.

If you’re currently in the midst of the shoegaze revival, then this album is a very worthy addition to the story of the genre and offers some of the most interesting layering of instrumentation and song writing that might be found anywhere else in history. This is easily as good as many of the more celebrated bands that pioneered the movement some thirty years ago (or more, in the case of My Bloody Valentine). If you’re a fan of heavy rock or metal, you might be forgiven for not understanding what the hype is all about. The tempos over the length of the album all average out to a rather mid-range, and no one instrument (including the voice) really ever steps out in front the others with the exception of the lead guitar at times, but even then, there’s no heroic guitar solos to be found here. Rather, this band stays within the limits of the genre and experiment within these bounds. There they have found the best aspects of it to celebrate and revel in. All in all, it’s the kind of album that might prompt someone not used to the style to either ask "what is this?" or perhaps, "wow, this is different!" and as far as introductions to both new genres and bands, that’s not a bad thing at all. Anywhere you drop in on these collections of songs, there’s a real desire to just keep listening to see what can be done with the formula.

Watch this space – I think this band will go far.

• 1
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  Coridian
• 3
  Take Hold
• 4
  Skinny Hobos
• 5
  Shihad
• 6
  Written By Wolves
• 7
  L.A.B.
• 8
  Katchafire
• 9
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• 10
  Villainy

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  Lisa Grace @ Big Fan, Auckland - 12/05/2024
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  Loveta @ Big Fan, Auckland - 12/05/2024
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  Floyd Marsden @ Moon, Wellington - 11/05/2024

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