Bleary - Gates
BLEARY DROPS DAZZLING ‘GATES'
Nashville’s dream-pop/shoegaze outfit Bleary released a hecka-tasty album not long ago. It’s called Gates, and it’s freaking excellent.
Bleary
Bleary is: Peter Mercer (guitar, vocals), Callan Dwan (guitar, vocals), Taro Yamazaki (bass), and Luke Fedorko (drums), who recently replaced former drummer Jonathan Miller.
Mercer and Dwan came up through the DIY scene in Nashville, and finally formed Bleary. They knew Yamazaki from college. Miller played in Future DZ and Jaundice, while working at Tram Planet Records. While the band was recording Gates, they were listening to My Bloody Valentine, New Order, and Haroumi Hosono.
According to the band, “Gates is mostly about love, regret and disillusionment.” They’ll be heading off on their first tour April 12, playing at venues on the East Coast. If you get the chance to see them live, go! This band really knows how to lay it down.
Gates encompasses six-tracks. First up is “Sour,” opening on potent guitars and a thumping, rumbling groove flowing into vibrant synths swelling with shimmering colors. I love the drums on this track, crunching, along with beau coup sizzling cymbals. Vocals, oh, what divine vocals on this song, bright and velvety.
“Backseat” tumbles and rolls on luminous flavors, as Dwan’s divine voice radiates nuclear-laced actinic tones.
“Ghost” rides surging textures, along with wall-of-sound glistening new wave guitars, jangly and spangly with sparkling accents. Mercer’s voice flows like warm Velveeta, drifting, soaring, and glowing with tasty timbres. After the breakdown, delicious fluttering colors full of gossamer resonance suffuse the atmosphere with swirls of color.
“Backseat” tumbles and rolls on luminous flavors, as Dwan’s divine voice radiates nuclear-laced actinic tones. What a voice, dreamy and tight with just a touch of nasality, and searing energy when she turns it loose. Listen to Yamazaki’s bass on the breakdown – throbbing with straight from the bowels of hell vibrations.
The intro to “Divine Proportions” is warm and elegant, topped by Mercer’s luscious tones. As the melody kicks in, the tune takes on hefty colors and echoing surfaces. And once again, scrumptious vocal harmonies give the song supercharged sonority. “Tear U Apart” features strident guitars flowing into a ferociously smooth melody rippling with sheens of burnished hues. I love the boom of the kick-drum on this track, round and full-bodied.
The title track opens on squalling tones flowing into a rumbling, deep-colored tune rife with penetrating guitars spilling out ozone-like prismatic tones. A tender breakdown shifts the harmonics from muscular to glassy, and then ramps back up to thick washes of color.
On Gates, Bleary struts their talents, instrumentally and vocally, delivering wonderfully dazzling melodies. This band slaps!
