Under The Milkyway Who Cares?

2017 release, a massive, moving cloud of nocturnal shoegaze. Opener 'Tricolore' is a full on assault and maybe the most exciting thing Saint Marie Records has ever released. It's a lurching blurry glorious mess, infected with the teutonic plague and loving every minute of it. The guitar solo on 'If You Leave' will melt your bones; the synth hook will steal your soul. New vocalist Julia Beyer, an acclaimed visual artist in her own right, sings like an angel whose wings have been dipped in tar. She sings in English and French. She sings like someone well acquainted with death. 'By The River' announces itself with a spaceship lifting off. It's a brutal coldwave classic, spoken vocals laid across a violent fall down the stairs, but it's 'Symétrie ' that's the true stunner. It opens with an elegy of fuzz, impossibly dramatic, perched on a high precipice looking down, and when the drums enter at the 2-minute mark, pounding like an adrenalized heartbeat, the experience becomes too much to bear and the song ends with our hearts in our throats. This one has to be heard to be believed. Under The Milky Way... who cares throws down the gauntlet, an album that transcends it's genre, that leaves all the pretenders in the dust.