-=- SHGZ -=- * Shoegaze * Indie * Post-Rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Psych-Rock * Ethereal * ARTIST..: Mumrunner ALBUM...: Valeriana GENRE...: Indie STYLE...: Shoegaze, Dream Pop YEAR....: 2020 LABEL...: Shelflife COUNTRY.: Finland PLACE...: Tampere ENCODER.: LAME 3.100 -V0 BITRATE.: 264 kbps avg QUALITY.: 44.1kHz / Joint Stereo SOURCE..: CD TRACKS..: 8 SIZE....: 59.93 MB URL..: http://www.facebook.com/mumrunnerband - TRACKLIST 1 Foe 4:08 2 Remember Me 3:54 3 Mirage 3:49 4 Easy Life 3:26 5 Valeriana 5:00 6 Haven 3:27 7 Woe 5:03 8 Transient 2:50 Total Playtime: 31:37 Within the last few years Mumrunner has established itself as a very exciting prospect to watch, especially within shoegaze/ dream pop circles. With much global blog, radio and media presence aligned with EP releases in Europe and Japan, and their many European tours, the stage has been set for "Valeriana". Valeriana means the better immunity for us after all the hassle and troubles we've been through during the past two years. Our lineup changed 2/4 during the album's making process. Nothing dramatic behind the scenes, but the timings for that were shitty. Luckily the new singer & guitarist, Michael and new drummer, Senni has both taken their places in a band very nicely, and we can say, we're feeling great now with an album and our current situation. In Valeriana, the trippy parts shakes hands with joyful melodies. We have always been eager to write memorable melodies, and we are able to show even stronger and fuller melody lines and groovier songs on this record. Distortion pedals and academic chord strummings has been put aside, only using those infrequently as an extra flavor. The singing there is still very ethereal and atmospheric with more simultaneous male/female singing. It's definitely a bona fide dream pop album. * Partway through the years-long recording process of Finish dream pop quartet Mumrunner's first album, half the band left. Over the course of two EPs and a handful of singles, the group had already established themselves as highly melodic songwriters with a tendency to burst out into noisy fits of shoegaze distortion. Bringing in a new drummer and a new vocalist would dramatically alter any band's sound, and Mumrunner leave behind some of the heaviness of their past on Valeriana for a more sophisticated window into their collective dream world. It's an album of subtleties, and even the overall evolution in sound takes a few minutes to sink in. Valeriana opens with "Foe," a misty, atmospheric song made up of chiming dual guitar leads and a chorus of washed-out vocal harmonies. Somewhere between M83's romantic nostalgia and Wild Nothing's shut-in songcraft, the song finds a shape of its own. Relaxed tempos replace the aggression that guided the band's earliest tunes with a steady, friendly push. Even upbeat songs like "Haven" and "Easy Life" are dynamic and shifting, sounding more in line with the indie haze of Beach Fossils than the zippy walls of shoegaze noise that made up their first EP Full Blossom. Most of Valeriana explores diverse styles. The funky bass groove and chorus-heavy guitar chords of "Remember Me" is more chillwave than noise rock, and there are even hints of shadowy goth rock throughout. The slowly rolling title track sounds particularly inspired by Disintegration-era Cure. It's not a complete overhaul of Mumrunner's sound, but the refined tones of Valeriana favor vocal harmonies, haunting melodies, and tense dynamism over volume. Sleepier but no less exciting, Valeriana is a progression marked by more thoughtful and ultimately more engaging songs. * Within the last few years Mumrunner has established itself as a very exciting prospect to watch especially within shoegaze/ dream pop circles. With much global blog radio and media presence aligned with EP releases in Europe and Japan and their many European tours the stage has been set for an upcoming debut album Valeriana in March 2020. Valeriana means the better immunity for us after all the hassle and troubles weve been through during the past two years. Our lineup changed 2/4 during the albums making process. Nothing dramatic behind the scenes but the timings for that were shitty. Luckily the new singer & guitarist Michael and new drummer Senni has both taken their places in a band very nicely and we can say were feeling great now with an album and our current situation. In Valeriana the trippy parts shakes hands with joyful melodies. We have always been eager to write memorable melodies and we are able to show even stronger and fuller melody lines and groovier songs on this record. Distortion pedals and academic chord strummings has been put aside only using those infrequently as an extra flavor. The singing there is still very ethereal and atmospheric with more simultaneous male/female singing. Its definitely a bona fide dream pop album. -=- SHGZ -=- -=-=-==-=-=- Shoegaze is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the late 80s. The genre is very difficult to define, and it is even more difficult to evaluate music within it. Generally, the genre is characterized by its shimmering vocals, reverberating guitars, and textural distortion that create a tranquil, opaque feeling. ---==--==---