Album Reviews

Spirit/Wholes
Big Hush - Spirit/Wholes
6.0
 on
Monday, August 28, 2017 - 15:55
submitted by
Thomas

In case you have been living under a rock for the past year or two, shoegaze is back in all of its reverb-y glory. The Jesus And Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Ride… all of them are back at it. And there is a slew of new bands in their wake.

 

Which brings us to Washington D.C.’s Big Hush, who recently released their debut album. It combines both of their previously released EPs “Who’s Smoking Your Spirit?” (2014) and “Wholes” (2015) along with one new song (opening track “Soft Eyes”).

 

They are a shoegaze band at heart (with some anxious punk energy to boot), but instead of taking the formulaic approach to shoegaze, they don’t shy away from experiments. Which sometimes pays off. At other times though, I kinda lose my way in the middle of all the jarring guitars and hushed vocals. The one new song on here, “Soft Eyes”, is a winner though as it lingers somewhere between harmony-laden melancholy, shoegaze’s wall of sound and slightly off-kilter melodies. So hopefully more of that in the future?

 

Track listing:

  1. Soft Eyes
  2. Pay To Play
  3. Say Anything
  4. Cold Shoulder
  5. Cough
  6. Walk On
  7. Wholes
  8. Honey
  9. Wrong House
  10. Where I End
Tom Dumarey
Tom Dumarey

Lacking the talent to actually play in a band, Tom decided he would write about bands instead. Turns out his writing skills are mediocre at best as well.