Hometown: St Petersburg, Russia.
The lineup: Igor (bass), Lyubov (vocals), Sergey (drums), Rustam (synths, electronics), Roman (guitars).
The background: It’s been a good year for shoegaze: Slowdive reformed and got the props they deserved after years of being derided as the runts of the noisepop litter, while whole websites appeared devoted to not just the historical stuff but celebrating the great new music being made under the banner of fuzz-haze (to coin a new term) right now.
More specifically, this week has been a good week for shoegaze: news came in of a great new band from Tel Aviv called Vaadat Charigim, which may or may not be Hebrew for “stares wanly at effects pedal”. And now here’s a great new Russian band called Pinkshinyultrablast, whose very name connotes the radiant charm and shimmering power of the best shoegaze music. They have been compared to Lush, who were one of those post-MBV shoegaze bands who partly succeeded in taking noisepop into the charts, just prior to Britpop.
Singer Lyubov, when she’s not chirruping in tongues à la Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins (although apparently, if you can discern the words through the miasma of reverb and guitar dazzle, she sings in English, not Russian, because our language is “more melodious” – tell that to Sleaford Mods), is a student of the Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson school of diaphanous coo. But they don’t want to just be seen as genre copycats or karaoke ’gazers; they’re keen to push the electronic side of what they do, citing techno bods (Sabres of Paradise), modern classical/minimalist composers (Terry Riley, Philip Glass) and krautrockers (Cluster, Popul Vuh) as influences.
Mostly, though, they’re a quiet riot of ethereal vocals and lustrous guitars. We’ve heard their January 2015 debut album Everything Else Matters and you will like it if you love Slowdive or indeed Lush but can’t wait for their reunion. Wish We Were builds and builds until really it could only be accommodated live in a sonic cathedral. The band’s name and the title of the track Holy Forest conflate two very shoegaze things: a sense of light leading to revelation and quasi-religious epiphany. Glitter expresses most fully the band’s debt to the Cocteaus, adding a smattering of grungey riffage to prove these are earthbound musicians not will o’ the wisps. Land’s End climaxes with a showerburst of guitar scintillae that will have you: a) checking the credits to see whether Robin Guthrie was at the controls; and b) wondering whether My Bloody Valentine might consider incorporating it into the “holocaust” section of You Made Me Realise the next time they play it in concert.
They may not get the column inches of Pussy Riot, but Pinkshinyultrablast offer just as valid an insight into young modern Russia, even if it does come via the early-90s Thames Valley.
The buzz: “They’re the most interesting shoegaze band in the world right now” – the Dumbing of America.
The truth: This is Lush-ous stuff.
Most likely to: Bring a blush to the snow.
Least likely to: Hiccup sugar.
What to buy: The single Umi is released by Club AC30 on 10 November. Debut album Everything Else Matters comes out in January.
File next to: Lush, Slowdive, Cocteau Twins, Astrobrite.
Links: pinkshinyultrablast.bandcamp.com
Ones to watch: Cajsa Siik, Mana Island, Howard Ivans, Misun, Liv.
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