A Sunny Day In Glasgow: Tout New Age
It would be fair to say ’00s are bringing shoegazers back! Garnishing it with the utilities of technology of course.. The Twilight Sad, Ulrich Schnauss, Maps, Asobi Seksu, The Radio Dept., Autolux, countless Icelandic experimental bands and many more other bands coming out often are the ocular (even audiovisual!) proofs for the tendency to this 80s musical stream.
With the release of their first EP The Sunniest Day Ever, these three siblings: A Sunny Day In Glasgow have started to stand out as one of those “newgazers” too. Receiving acclaim from noise-followers as well yet still being a bit unheard and underrated maybe.
Frontman (the brother), Ben Daniels’ talent to hide melody (and partly lyrics) in between vocals and noise; urges us to look back into early 80s – the forerunners of the shoegazing movement such as Cocteau Twins, Spacemen 3, My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Lush… but specially Cocteau Twins considering the obscure female vocals! It was like listening to a re-mastered, re-mixed combination of those legends when I first heard C’mon last year. What occupied my mind then was, if they were just going to stay as an imitation of the pioneers of Shoegazing? Or were they going to be cherished as a quality “new”gazer band?!
Well, the latter one happened. In spite of the fact that I really got bored at first listen and put the album on the back burner for a few weeks, all of a sudden I happened to give it another chance, thanks to that rainy day in Istanbul. Somehow, rain must have created an association with Glasgow in my mind!! Listening to this stunning debut Scribble Mural Comic Journal for tad of times, I was convinced that these guys were not going to be a comet in my music library.
Relaxing ambiance of No. 6 Von Karman Street, “attention seeking” melody of A Mundane Phonecall To Jack Parsons despite all the burying down, moving tempo of Our Change Into Rain Is No Change At All (Talkin’ ‘Bout Us), artistic electronic sound of 5:15 Train, eerie feeling of C’mon, sensational sound of Things Only I can See as if it is came off 80s, blithe beats of The Best Summer Ever; made Scribal Mural Comic Journal kind of worn-out from overplay.
Not being fairly done with getting all the pleasure I can out of this album, A Sunny Day In Glasgow released a new 8-track EP -Tout New Age- only a few months following their debut.
There is a general chill-out feel to the whole EP begining with the dark and calm opener They Made My Baby Care About Things That Didn’t Matter (typical of the band picking long and extraordinary titles to name the tracks!). This downtempo track is being followed by a more upbeat Laughter (Victims) which is an impressive melody jazzing you up even though it lasts less than 2 minutes. Summerlong Silences and Yellow are other songs worthy to be mentioned I think.
I am actually not sure about Take Care of Yourself (Our Next Breath Will Be Our Last). It felt more like a filler put behind The Ossifrage (Tout New Age) at first listens. Well you can’t please everyone, can you?
Finally, the last track in the EP; Hugs & Kisses (Theme from A Sunny Day in Glasgow) is gorgeous with one word. Mellow, striking, inspiring with winning contributions of different instruments and soft-dark vocals. I love it!
People with a thing for 80s dream-pop genre don’t really have to wait for rain to check A Sunny Day In Glasgow- who are probably the most 80s sounding shoegazers of today…
Tout New Age is avalable for download only. (iTunes, Insound, Other Music, Emusic)
A Sunny Day In Glasgow – Hugs & Kisses (Theme from A Sunny Day in Glasgow)
Download: A Sunny Day In Glasgow at Emusic