The 1990s was a brilliant time for music with many
genres coming in to their own or starting, particularly through the
decade's first few years. Of course, grunge found itself at the
forefront of the world's attention, whilst smaller genres snuck in
behind it. Two such genres were shoegaze, and twee-pop, who both
found their footing during the decade and were popularised by band's
such as My Bloody Valentine and Heavenly respectively. And whilst
both genres are still enjoying relative popularity, at least within
their individual scenes, it goes without saying that an amalgamation
of the two would inevitably occur, giving birth to dream-pop, a genre
taking the laid back almost lazy vocals of twee and fusing them with
the less abrasive but no less encompassing instrumentation of
shoegaze.
Even though dream-pop isn't exactly enjoying the
same amount of popularity of as other genres at the moment, there's
still a fair amount of artists, both signed and otherwise, creating
the same kind of sonic texturing that transcends your usual
alternative rock. One such band, Cork's Elastic Sleep, are more than
embracing the genre's lo-fi tendencies, they've absorbed themselves
in them.
'Anywhere', the one, tantalising track that the
band have uploaded is a perfect example of what makes the genre so
irresistible. Ephemeral, breathy vocals perpetuate the hook line “You
could be anywhere” throughout
the course of the tracks 2 and a quarter minutes; the vocal
simplicity is it's beauty and the use of a female vocalist keeps it
feeling genuine, there's just something about the timbre of a female
vocal that lends itself to the genre so willingly and can probably be
attributed to the twee influences that bleed through in to every
dream-pop band.
Whilst the vocals are
understated and simple, the music on which the vocals paint is far
from it. A turbulent canvas of sonic evisceration, the juxtaposition
of vocal and instrumentation is as blatant as it could be jarring,
should one go in to this not knowing what to expect. It's exciting
whilst verging on the violent, all the while at the same time being
melodic and inviting, like the metaphorical carrot dangling from a
stick, 'Anywhere' leaves us clamouring for more. It's obvious that
Elastic Sleep are a band with raw, untapped talent. This, when
coupled with their understanding of musical composition makes for
fantastic listening and gives one a feeling that this is just the tip
of the iceberg, a brief introduction to the band and their
idiosyncrasies before they show what their really capable of.
