Dead Leaf Echo - Pale Fire
[Year Of The Gallon Records]

Shoegaze fans will likely not want to let “Pale Fire”, by New Yorkers Dead Leaf Echo, slip under their radar. As if they are stuck in a time bubble or that the last decade and a half hasn’t happened, this quartet tap into a world where droning riffs, torrents of feedback and spectral vocals and melodies that melt into a wall of sound landscape are the norm. A world where Alan McGee has still to meet the Gallagher brothers and is, instead, proclaiming Kevin Shields as a genius and Ride as the best band on the planet.

This is far from a bad thing, though, as it is a style that very much suits them. The title track itself benefits from Ulrich Schnauss on production duties and the German musician makes it sound absolutely huge. He clearly knows his Slowdive from his Catherine Wheel as he treats the banks of dreamy guitar, woozy melodies and lush male/female vocal harmonies in such a way that the track is literally bursting at the seams with ethereal sound.

Clearly this quartet has a great rapport with one another, always the hallmark of a great live band. “Cry The Sea’s” languid tempo change in conjunction with frontman LG’s slightly delayed, swirling vocals mixes brilliantly with the strange, other-worldly chord progression. “Tears” follows suit, wrapped in gauzy, irresistible harmonies and another vibrant, insistent guitar arrangement that keeps the interest levels from waning.

While they work within a template, this is a compositionally sound and comparatively inventive outfit, especially for a genre that many believe ‘jumped the shark’ years ago. Dead Leaf Echo thread their music with a certain elegancy that prevents them re-treading old ground. I’ve always believed Shoegazing is an awful term when describing sounds like these. Music like this is for craning your necks skywards and contemplating what really lies beyond those clouds and in “Pale Fire”, Dead Leaf Echo fits that analogy perfectly.

Pale Fire Track Listing:

1. Warm Body
2. Thought Talk
3. Tears
4. Cry The Sea
5. Pale Fire (Ulrich Schnauss Mix)
6. Reflex Motion