-=- SHGZ -=- * Shoegaze * Indie * Post-Rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Psych-Rock * Ethereal * ARTIST..: Vinyl Williams ALBUM...: Opal GENRE...: Indie STYLE...: Indie Rock, Indie Pop, Soft Rock, Downtempo, Psychedelic, Ethereal, Leftfield, Dream Pop, Jazz-Rock YEAR....: 2018 LABEL...: Requiem Pour Un Twister ENCODER.: LAME 3.100 -V0 BITRATE.: 281 kbps avg QUALITY.: 44.1kHz / Joint Stereo SOURCE..: CD TRACKS..: 10 SIZE....: 78.13 MB URL..: http://vinylwilliams.com/ - TRACKLIST 1 Sanctuary Spells 3:03 2 Noumena 4:02 3 Spirit Of Now 2:30 4 Lansing 4:38 5 Aphelion 5:53 6 Florian Verediction 3:40 7 Nether Congrenes 3:24 8 None With Other 3:12 9 Eternity 3:10 10 Millenial Ballroom 5:29 Total Playtime: 39:01 Over the course of the 2010s, Vinyl Williams made some of the most quietly adventurous music around, mixing soft focus psychedelia with trippy prog, ambient synth pop, and somnambulant shoegaze in a fashion both soothing and inspiring. His 2018 album Opal was tricky to record -- Williams laid down guitar tracks on a handheld cassette recorder, synths and other instruments on an old VHS camcorder -- and mix -- he did mixes on the camcorder and digitally, then blended them together -- but the result is easy listening in the best sense of the world. The synths are dense and light, the guitars have wide-screen depth, the rhythm section burbles like a hidden stream and Williams' wide-eyed vocals perch above the wobbly, homemade arrangements like a mountaintop mystic. It all comes together with an enveloping warmth and feels like just the kind of music it's good to spin at the end of a long, busy day. The melodies are pure cotton candy and they flow easily from one song to the next; sometimes with a little more urgency, like on the quick stepping "Aphelion," but mostly with a gentleness that is quite inviting. He seems to have learned a bit of a lesson after the slight stumble of 2016's Brunei, an album that sank a little too deeply into the couch cushions. It's good to have hooks in the songs, even if they are chilled out to the point of sleep. Otherwise, it's far too easy for them to slip away unnoticed and never make an impression. There are plenty of chances for this record to get lodged deep in listener's brain. Tracks like the arty, very German "Nether Congrenes" have soft textures but a fair amount of rhythmic bite and squirrelly guitars; "Spirit of Now" has an expansive sound and a beaming chorus, and "Millenial Ballroom" is oscillating sunshine pop that is a fine tribute to the work of Curt Boettcher. The almost giddy pop of "None with Other" has more energy in its three minutes than Brunei had over the course of its entire running time. It's a nice turnaround for Williams, showing that he's not only a dozy dreamer, but still knows how to cook up songs that have some staying power and he's delivered the most compelling album of his career yet. * Lionel Williams' fourth album brings new melodic clarity to his kaleidoscopic variations on soft-focus psych pop, pushing his songs into the realm of pure, escapist pleasure. Trends are hard to suss out amid the diversity of contemporary indie rock, but it sure feels like there's a lot of good psychedelic music out there lately. From MGMT's doomy, atomic pop and the motorik fantasias of Hookworms to the variegated loveliness of Beach House's 7 and the knotty micro-prog of Melody's Echo Chamber, 2018 has offered an embarrassment of trippy riches. A fair amount of this music has come from Toro Y Moi mastermind Chaz Bundick's Carpark imprint Company Records, including mind-bending releases from San Francisco guitar stylist Tanukichan and the post-rock dream maker who records as Astronauts, etc., among others. The latest noteworthy psych album to emerge from this milieu is former Company signee Vinyl Williams' Opal. The fourth record from the hazy LA pop project masterminded by Lionel Williams (grandson to legendary film composer John Williams) represents a massive leap forward from what came before it. Since his full-length debut, 2012's Leminiscate, Williams has followed his messy muse wherever it's taken him, situating patches of streamlined songwriting next to side-long instrumental indulgences adorned with titles like "Mercurial Vestiges." Although Opal's tracklist still betrays a predilection for extravagant language (a personal fave: "Florian Veridiciton"), there's a new clarity to his work here; songs spin through kaleidoscopic variations on soft-focus pop without losing their melodic grounding, even at their weirdest moments. The album bears some resemblance to Tame Impala's 2010 debut, Innerspeaker, and to Unknown Mortal Orchestra's warped rock. But it has a more obscure forerunner in the music of the now-defunct Colorado hippie collagists Candy Claws, whose first full-length, 2010's Hidden Lands, is all heavenly, hushed whispers and mossy keyboard reveries. Opal has a similarly dreamy aura, with spun-sugar melodic passages anchored by Williams' gossamer vocals and a thumping low end∙but it adds an intense rhythmic pulse, in percussion flourishes that range from the high-speed cymbal rush of "Sanctuary Spells" to the tricky fills underlying "None With Other." There's never been any doubt that Williams is an adept musician, but his newfound skills as a songwriter and arranger push the album into the realm of pure pleasure. -=- SHGZ -=- P.S. ** Thanks *** *** BCC FNT IPC SSR *** *** For Knowing Where The Music Is At *** *** Props to CaHeSo, awesome Asian Indie/Shoegaze *** *** And to FANG/HOUND for supporting all the Indie lovers out there *** --===-- ********************* * NuHS we miss you! * *********************