-=- SHGZ -=-
* Shoegaze * Indie * Post-Rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Psych-Rock * Ethereal *
ARTIST..: Westkust
ALBUM...: Westkust
GENRE...: Indie
STYLE...: Shoegaze, Noise Pop, Dream Pop, Twee Pop, Indie Rock
YEAR....: 2019
LABEL...: Through Love
COUNTRY.: Sweden
FORMED..: 2010, Göteborg, Västra Götalands län, Sweden
VOCALS..: English
ENDED...: 7 January 2023
ENCODER.: LAME 3.100 -V0
BITRATE.: 290 kbps avg
QUALITY.: 44.1kHz / Joint Stereo
SOURCE..: CD
TRACKS..: 9
SIZE....: 64.58 MB
URL..: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westkust
https://www.messedmag.com/2019/07/02/westkust-on-review-cliches-and-the-fading-genre-scene-in-sweden-interview
https://www.stereogum.com/2210503/westkust-breakup/news
- TRACKLIST
1 Swebeach 2:26
2 Rush 3:38
3 Drive 3:29
4 Daylight 3:56
5 Cotton Skies 3:39
6 Do You Feel It 2:43
7 Junior 2:52
8 Adore 4:34
9 On The Inside 3:42
Total Playtime: 30:59
Swedish band Westkust has made a comeback with an indie rock self-titled
album. . . finally! Westkust made an outstanding return with more of a
shoegaze twist than previous releases. With a short but incredibly sweet nine
songs, it is sure to be a staple album to keep in the car for those long
summer drives. The first single released off Westkust was "Swebeach", which
immediately exceeded expectations with a cut air guitar riff, flowing evenly
into Julia Bjernelind's vocals.
After an almost four years absence, the five band members undoubtedly
screamed "we are back baby" with a ripping stellar full-length album. The
powerful resurgence of Westkust has fans begging for more.
*
On their first CD/LP following another bout of lineup changes, this
Gothenburg band pushes against shoegaze confinement with songs meant to feel
good.
Sweden's Westkust have always existed at the brink of annihilation. Almost
immediately after forming a decade ago, they endured a series of tumultuous
lineup changes before solidifying in 2011 as a five-piece, including two
members of fellow Gothenburg rockers Makthaverskan. Together, they released
the Junk EP, a grunge-tinged surf-rock record, and their fuzzy,
post-punk-laced debut LP, Last Forever. But just as that record earned
international attention, Westkust faded into the background. Both
Makthaverskan members departed, leaving the rest of the band to struggle to
finish Westkust, the record they started in 2016.
In an almost tragic comedy of errors, Westkust's release also coincides with
the dissolution of the label that was the heartbeat of Gothenburg's indie
community, Luxury. Born of this Sisyphean struggle, Westkust is a testament
to resilience built from years of restraint and frustration. It bursts with
brightness, even in its haziest moments.
With their first full-length, Westkust were cast as shoegaze revivalists, due
more to broad signifiers like co-ed vocalists and gauzy reverb than to the
actual songs. The tunes, after all, featured propulsive basslines, sky-high
chord progressions, and drumming patterns that owed more to the Ramones than
Ride. On Westkust, the band aims to break out of this premature
categorization. "Swebeach" opens the record with a massive guitar riff that
cuts through the air like a garage-rock fire alarm before crashing headlong
into the punk rhythm that anchors the song. The guitar returns to add a
brief, shiny solo, but the speedy tendencies of the drum and bass win out,
immediately dispatching those shoegaze notions.
These songs feel self-contained. When a particularly feedback-heavy note does
take hold, it soon gives way to a neat pop structure-melodies find their
resolution, and songs often end by mirroring their beginning. Even textures
borrowed from shoegaze, like the twinkling guitars and tambourine hits of
"Rush," cohabitate with echoing post-punk basslines and uptempo beats.
Westkust play with such palpable enthusiasm that they manage to evoke the
adolescent excitement of musical discovery.
This feeling owes in large part to singer Julia Bjernelind, whose voice melts
into the songs while guiding their melodies. On previous records, where
Gustav Andersson shared vocal duties, their songs were split between his
brash, off-kilter speak-singing and Bjernelind's honeyed crooning. But here,
she uses her voice as yet another layer, stretching out to harmonize with the
instruments rather than fight them. On "Adore," a sunny pop track, her
inflection shifts to match the reverb-washed guitar: "You know that I've been
told/You're kissed by the sun," she sings. Without Andersson to fight against
the melody, these tracks go down easy. "We wanted to make songs that just
feel good to listen to," Bjernelind has confirmed.
At times, Westkust feels so good it threatens to dissolve into the
background. "Daylight," which starts with a strumming pattern reminiscent of
Sixpence None the Richer's "Kiss Me," establishes a slow, swirling rhythm
and, unlike the rest of the record, stays the path. Add in Bjernelind's
lilting, downtrodden vocal, and the song becomes hypnotically dull and
familiar. But the warmth of a kick drum shakes off the fog on "Cotton Skies."
As soon as Westkust faded, they've returned in full ebullience.
*
It seems like a bit of a tease to release a dream pop record as unspeakably
warm and breezy as anything Sweden's Westkust has come to be known for in the
middle of March. When the first single from the band's recent self-titled
hit, the opening seconds of downhill-racing guitars-which manage never to
lose their footing-fell right in line with 2012's Junk EP and 2015's Last
Forever. For a band with as many line-up changes as Westkust has undergone
since forming in 2010, it's always surprising how unambiguously Westkust each
of their releases is.
Beyond the gliding riffs of "Swebeach," the rest of their long-anticipated
follow-up to Last Forever is certainly no exception to the band's uniformly
summery catalog. Nine tracks in total, Westkust is the same noiseless noise
pop the now-fourpiece has peddled since unfairly gaining attention as an
offshoot of fellow shoegazing Swedes Makthaverskan, rather than earning their
own place in the canon. "Cotton Skies" is as good an example of Brian
Cukrowski's guitar roaming free while an otherwise-conducted, high-energy pop
song tears through its three-and-a-half minute runtime as their debut single
"Touch," while the twelve seconds of uphill climb followed by screeching
freefall on "Do You Feel It" best exemplifies the traditional Westkust
formula.
The one distinction Westkust boasts among the group's previous work, though,
is vocalist Julia Bjernelind going solo on vocal duties, adding a new sense
of linearity contrasting with Last Forever's male-female dialogues. From the
previously mentioned burners to the relatively slow numbers like
"Daylight"-still pretty fast, not to mention unbelievably dense-their
self-titled works as a posthumous debut introducing themselves as a
collective held together with friendship, as Bjernelind claims, and marked by
an aptly floral cover design. Their beach-friendly riffs seem less an act of
provocation and more one of pure optimism-a welcome disposition any time of
year.
-=- 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.
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