How's that for a cynical record title? Well, let's hope it doesn't reflect any real life situations for frontman and founder of Permanent Collection Jason Hendardy. After picking up musicians from the Bay Area, Hendardy's one time solo outlet recently became a full fledged band, and Newly Wed Nearly Dead is the band's first LP on their own imprint label Loglady.

Finding a unique spot where hazy shoegaze, sugary sweet pop music, and charged punk spirit meet, Newly Wed Nearly Dead combines the best elements of My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, and The Jesus & Mary Chain into one cohesive disc of fuzzed out melodica and hypnotic rhythms. It's a lo-fi, scrappy effort, and one that channels an earlier time but is still quite modern and full of timeless energy.

“Forget It” leads the disc off, the guitars bombarding the listener while Hendardy's vocals echo in the background. The band uses feedback often to make an impact, and tracks like “In My Head” and later on “One Thousand Sins” illustrating this well, giving the album a lot of noise-rock appeal. “Sundays,” at the mid-point of the disc, breaks up the droning guitars for a more straightforward shoegaze approach, proving to be an irresistible and dreamy gem. “It's Alright” is probably the most universally palatable offering here; with quick paced guitars and thundering drums, it's a track that sounds very much rooted in the alt rock explosion of the early '90s. The album closes on “Too Late,” one of the purest shoegaze moments here and a track that proves to be the quietest and calmest. After a handful of loud rockers and thick guitars, it's a nice way to exit an otherwise very intense listen. 

If you enjoy your music mysterious, melodic, and sometimes haunting, the layered guitars and reverb-drenched singing here will be a nice addition to any post-punk or fuzzy pop enthusiast’s collection. The minor hints of garage and psychedelic rock add enough variety so that each song doesn't run together (something so common among this genre), and the entire ensemble is nearly flawless beginning to end. This disc is one of the best of its style – very impressive.

Rating: A

User Rating: Not Yet Rated

Comments