Shoegaze is back with a … well not a hard-hitting vengeance but definitely back in its engulfing, dreamy force. New York’s next great export, ZAZA has created an EP destined to propel them into the ranks of Ride, Slowdive, Asobi Seksu. Their upcoming EP, Cameo, due out on Kanine Records (a.k.a. the Williamsburg label who first released Grizzly Bear and Chairlift) is a fantastic reminder to why the genre became so loved in the first place. The musical union of Jennifer Fraser and Danny Taylor, (both west coast transplants that connected by fate in New York), the duo started creating textural loops and aural soundscapes, yielding strange ideas during the isolation of New York winters. Quite insular in the song-writing process, all the dreamy melodies, lyrics, and timbres are written about/for each other. The band might describe their sound best as “a love affair that feels like metal on metal”. No strangers to creating great music, Jennifer is a talented multi-instrumentalist who previously played in Teepee Records’ stalwarts The Warlocks, while Danny is known for his close associations with The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart while also manning sound for various bands and venues throughout NYC. His sound-expertise becomes all too evident on even a first listen of Cameo.
The record has an almost psych-rock element to it, painting out dark watercolor worlds that the listener drifts along in, guided by the couple’s distance reverberating voices which call to you, pulling you forward with some spiritual, unnamed magnetism. Despite their ethereal soundscapes, ZAZA still manages to throw in the occasional catchy pop hook and melody, still wrapped in that disarming ambient blanket. “Sooner or Later” is dreamy riverboat ride down a foggy, enchanted coastline, not quite frightening and not quite comforting, but with a wonderful resulting tension between the two. “Arms Length” feels reminiscent of Broken Social Scene’s Feel Good Lost, but with more energetic drumming and ZAZA’s signature vocals. This is some of the finest Shoegaze we’ve heard in quite a while: it holds all the traditional elements of the genre without copying any of its foundational bands. Pick the record up and float on.
Here’s a trippy video for “Sooner or Later” made from footage of an earl 2009 Webster Hall / Bowery Ballroom gig in New York. Get a taste of what’s to come:
ZAZA
“Sooner or Later” (mp3)
