Cassette Review //
Anura
"Deluge"
(Already Dead Tapes)
$6 //
Edition of 125 //
"Deluge" begins with guitar loops, drum beats and vocals which make me think of something like Flaming Lips but this just has another sound to it as well. While there are some psych qualities to this song, it just feels like something I can't quite put my finger on where there could be another band out there or combination of artists who sound like this but if there are I haven't heard them yet.
There is this dreamy, blissed out sound here, which makes me think of an artist such as The Cure but without as much darkness. It's not quite as blissed out though as something I'd put into a -gaze genre and think of with other bands, like Coastal Car or even the pop of Neon Trees. It's more low key than that. I don't know why but when I hear a sound like this I always feel like it has either a pop way about it or if not pop then that is replaced with darkness and Anura somehow finds a way to exist between the two, without either.
For how complex this is, it is not easily defined. That makes it feel mysterious to me because when you have these sounds of bass and slide guitars it feels like there should be some comparison out there to say "Oh yeah it sounds like this and this mixed together" but I just haven't been able to place it. Anura is truly breaking new ground here. Deeply distorted guitars bring out these higher tones almost like bells now and this has vocals coming through, but kind of tucked away, and I thought of Porno For Pyros for a second but this is just out of this world.
This all dives and drops off into this instrumental storm of distortion and electricity before returning with a more melodic, angelic type of vibe now with bells. As the first side ended instrumental, the flip side begins with vocals coming out almost right away. There is a bedroom pop element to this, maybe slightly like surf or just the idea of being in the sun and at the beach as well, but overall it has no genre except for maybe being pop rock with a light emphasis on the pop.
Some feelings of post rock now, like perhaps we're going to explore that -gaze genre here. Slowly, this song does feel somewhat psychedelic. It has a little bit of that Stone Temple Pilots vibe, but from the "Lady Picture Show" song specifically and then maybe that whole "Tiny" album as well. We drift into a static cloud now. I felt like this was going to take us into an instrumental part but the vocals have come through now and I can once again only best compare this with Flaming Lips.
As I begin to think this has those post rock/FNL vibes, the guitar strings begin scratching as we float away on clouds. The vocals return in this song and I thought we would surely be lost in space. This does remind me of the older songs of The Lyndsay Diaries now, which is nice. Grinding waves bring out the best of FNL guitar notes now. The frequencies change now, as it you can feel them turning the knobs. There is an added, faster paced layer behind this one as well and it just continues to tell the story of a sound which is somewhat familiar yet so much developed on its own.
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