“New Shores” by Black Submarine, submerges itself in an oceanic underworld of sonic serpents and sirens that brood and captivate through its translucent waves of baroque, shoegazing, trip-pop, neo-Eastern psychedelic, industrial and experimental dream-pop. Like a vessel that delves so deep you feel the menacing synths from the nebulus depths and the reflective light that shimmers from the jangly and acoustic riffs. You ride those tumultuous tides and get swept away with the high-pitch frequency of violins that scribble and antagonise against the hammering beats.
With ex The Verve Nick McCabe on guitars/synths, ex The Verve Simon Jones on bass , Davide Rossi on violins/vocals (whose musical credentials include The Verve, Coldplay and Goldfrapp) and Michele “Mig” Schillace on drums/percussions (who has worked with Portishead), “New Shores” also features a host of vocalists including Amelia Tucker and Charley Bickers. Now established as the lead vocalist, Tucker has one of those voices which instantly captivates and draws you in through its pristine and soprano-esque tones. A real asset to the band, Tucker’s voice nestles in the ethereal realms of Elizabeth Fraser, whilst sitting in juxtaposition with the more deadpan and darker vocals of Rossi and Bickers.
It’s an album which emits a paradox of emotions through an abstract soundscape, that dips between shoegaze surges to rythmic races, to stripped down acoustic, metalic mesh , and cinematic inserts that create a visceral voyage. It’s an immaculate masterpiece, that rumbles and distorts through the intricate currents. It’s a sublime album, whose duality of male and female vocals, adds to the fluidity and textures that stream throughout. Along with the aloof dual vocals and evolving motifs,“New Shores”, drifts away from a fixed disposition, creating a fluctuating and oblique infused sound.
Through the intermix of riffs, “New Shores”, steers in all directions, navigating through the spectral mist, dissipating any undercurrents of intensity through the orchestral out-tros, that ebb and flow towards a tsunami crescendo.
If you like Siouxsie and the Banshees, Cocteau Twins, Joy Division, The Durutti Column, Massive Attack and Portishead and music of a high calibre, then I definitely recommend you check out the amazing music of “Black Submarine”.
Single review:
With it’s Banshee-esque riffs, “Heart First” jangles with a new wave grandiose that whirls, waltzes, bustles and obscures into a shoegaze haze. It’s a mesmerising song, whose pounding beats pulsate against the captivating vocals. Along with the hammering synths and oscillating bass, “Heart First” throbs with resolute force, which is softened by the lucid mesh of mingled riffs. It’s a dreampop delight , tranqilised by its translucent ambience and awakened by the stacatto, scribble and sweeping violins. Ingeniously crafted, “Heart First” races into a cacophony of baroque noise-pop, that drones and sinks into a frenzied crescendo.
Released on 10th March 2014, “New Shores” can be purchased via Itunes and all good music retailers.