05 August 2007

A Sunny Day in Glasgow

There's been much talk over the past few years of a shoegaze revival, with bands such as Serena Maneesh, M83 and Amusement Parks on Fire (among others) being touted as taking the "genre" into the 21st century. Another band have edged their way nervously to the fore, championing the classic shoegaze aural delights of whispery indistinct vocals and wall of noise instrumentation. And what better time than now to be listening to this slice of summer as the UK's three weeks of summer heat finally seems to have arrived.

Three-piece A Sunny Day in Glasgow began as the bedroom recording projects of Ben Daniels and Ever Nalens. Ever moved to Glasgow to go to art school, Ben moved to London. Both returned to their native Philadelphia after a couple years and pooled their musical ideas in the summer of 2005. After a couple of months Ever left the project while Ben enlisted his sister, Robin, to handle the vocals. After a few months of recording as a duo, Robin's identical twin and Ben's other sister, Lauren was brought in to fill out the sound. The songs were all recorded in Ben's apartment in West Philly, with most vocals being recorded at their parent's houses in the suburbs.

The three put together a few songs they had been recording and released them as The Sunniest Day Ever EP in March 2006. Eventually Pitchfork gave their song C'mon 4 stars and the band started getting label attention. In October 2006 the band signed to Notenuf Records for the release of their full-length record, Scribble Mural Comic Journal released in February 2007.

Watery (Drowning is Just Another Word for Being Buried Alive) is a slice of Brian Wilson-inspired summery bubblegum pop infused with a shoegaze aesthetic and is pretty typical of the album it's taken off. This track pushes the guitar to a background element swelled with cavernous metallic reverb, alongside insistent tambourines and vocals swirling across the stereo field. Elsewhere on the album, you'll find gritty rhythms, languid bass figures and synth textures, but all held together with the twins' ethereal vocals.

A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Watery (Drowning is Just Another Word for Being Buried Alive) MP3 from Scribble Mural Comic Journal (Notenuf, 2007)
A Sunny Day in Glasgow on Myspace

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