The Stargazer Lilies-We Are the Dreamers

I caught The Stargazer Lilies earlier this year at SXSW and they completely blew me away live (and practically blew out me ear drums), play a set of gradual, beauty tinged, utterly blistering shoegaze that was absolutely consuming of the space they were in like any good shoegaze band should be. I think that's why it was so shocking to hear The Stargazer Lilies in their proper, record form. "We Are the Dreamers", taken from their upcoming album of the same name, shows that in reality the band lies much closer to dream-pop, albeit a twisted take of the genre, built around needle like buzzes of encroaching guitar fuzz and steadily pounding drums. Even Kim Field's vocals, while lovely, have a ghostly quality to them, feeling hollow and breathy, must like all the instrumentation of the track, which has a floating quality to it as if the increasing tension and noise of the song will cause itself to break apart and float away. Even when the molasses coated, roaring guitars kick in, it just adds to the beauty of the track rather than overpowering anything and grounding something unnecessarily. The Startgazer Lilies have made an absloutly lovely piece of dream-pop here, creative and removed from the usual standards of the genre so that it stands strong in its dark essence, as weightless as it can be.   



Links:

The Stargazer Lilies' Website
Pre-order We Are the Dreamers here, from Graveface Records

SXSW 2013: Saturday (Part 2)

The Stargazer Lilies @ The Velveeta Room



The Stargazer Lilies for whatever wonderful reason have decided to fulfill their name, projecting serine video clips of flower filled fields and decorating the stage with their namesake flower. All this was done to enhance the moodiness and atmosphere of their music, which they might have pulled off even better than Experimental Aircraft. Each song built before cascading into pure, swirling, shoegaze bliss. As intact as that atmosphere started out with, the band shattered it as they become progressively noisier and noisier, so much that by the end of it the guitarist was smashing himself into his amp with his guitar to produce the right level of noise. Needless to say, Stargazer Lilies was absolutely wonderful hearing damaging goodness.

Dosh @ The Velveeta Room



Dosh's set should have halted the entire flow of the shoegaze fulled showcase, but instead he sort of served as the perfect palette cleanser. A after bring what looked like the main components of a recording studio onto the stage, Dosh procededs to create some of the loveliest loop music in the world. Augmented by a bassist and guitarist who seemed new to the situation but where nonetheless on point as hell, it was a feat to behold as Dosh jumping from his drum kit, a metal fish skeleton like hammered dulcimer, and switch board to splice everything together as the songs grew and grew. There were only four songs played, but each was still an amazingly captivating sprawl to behold. How music that meticulous could feel so improvised I'll never know.

Nothing @ The Velveeta Room



Death by shoegaze is realm true event that can happen, and I came as close as I've ever come to it when Nothing took the stage. Looking like a bunch of grizzled, hardcore guys who had walked in from an adjacent bar, they proceeded to produce some of the most powerful, intense, ear-bursting, and emotional shoegaze I've heard in a long, LONG time. It was blur, a cyclone of guitar fury that was something akin to the most heavenly piercing demonic screams right in your ear as the rhythm section constantly battered your skull into the ground. When Nothing started to play the void opened up, you fell in, and no one escaped until their 25 minutes had passed. It passed in the blink in the eye, but god if that moment wasn't just unimaginably incredible. And that was it. My hearing was shot, my knees, after four long days, were finally buckling, and I knew nothing would possibly be able to top Nothing. I closed out my South by Southwest 2013 experience with possibly the most intense musical experience of the fest; and it was glorious.