Shoegaze, as you've probably gathered by now, is having something of a revival, but where most revivalists tend to be focusing on the noisy, reverb-laden guitar end of the spectrum which lends itself so well to garagey psychedelia, these two have a thing for the more ethereal practitioners of the genre with a dash of dream-pop - think the Cocteau Twins, Mazzy Star, This Mortal Coil and even Sigur Ros and you'll have an idea of the types of epic soundscapes that we're talking about here.
"Unfold" is an ambitious opener, to all intents and purposes throwing the listener in the deep end to see if they can swim, with an eleven minute opus that starts in near ambient territory before dreamy vocals start to wind their way around the arrangement. Psychedelic therapy indeed - quite lovely, but a bit of a momentum killer to start with.
Things take flight from here though with "Cry Baby" boasting a moody proto-Portishead ambience with a stunning vocal from Jo, while "I Love You" builds up to the sort of crashing crescendos that we're more used to hearing emanate from a certain Icelandic musical export.
Peaks and troughs of this sort continue to chart an album that feels like a journey, showing remarkable emotional depth as well as an impressively versatile musical palette that also embraces crunchy guitars and synthesized beats.
Available as a free download from The Flying Cape Experience's Bandcamp page here:
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