Pinkshinyultrablast have been making a whole lot of noise lately, and with their second ‘difficult’ album, Grandfeathered about to break through the Russian borders, they’re about to get even noisier. Their debut collection (Everything Else Matters) of drifty shoegaze bliss reinvented the hazy introspectiveness of the ‘80s genre which gave us My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Pale Saints, and Lush, amongst others. Shoegazing has had a few slightly less Eastern European revamps over recent years, such as the reformation of Swervedriver, and the dreamy haziness of The Horrors. But for an undeniably 2016 variation, nothing comes close to the sound that is five fine citizens of Saint Petersburg layering up the lushness, and delivering a cool blast of crashingly agitated cosmicness.
From the first jangly album intro of wavy wind-chimes being stir-fried in a giant stainless steel wok, against a background of industrial beats, through to the more melodic album closer, it’s a captivating and hypnotic listen. I have no idea which language Lyubov Soloveva, the female vocalist is using, it’s a hyper-real blend of sound and words, and any notion of searching for lyrical meaning becomes lost in waves of emotion and sensation. Soloveva’s voice arcs and swoops from here to there and has the same otherworldly qualities as I’d imagine a higher form of consciousness would possess.
But the voice is just one element of the collective, and the combined sound is all about the overlapping accumulation of noise. If streaky strata of sedimentary rock were interspersed with glittery space dust, and could speak, this is the sound they would emit. This is particularly true of middle-of-album tune “Comet Marbles” and it seems the shoegaze category has been well and truly superseded by a brand new genre of intergalactic-stargaze.
Grandfeathered is an album filled with soaring elevations that are like the highest pinnacle of the newest and shiniest glass building, with undercurrents of the clearest, icy blue, crystal pool. “I Catch You Napping” has the softest, feather light vocals that I almost catch hold of, before they spin around and float off into space. “Kiddy Pool Dreams” has a tingly up and down kind of melody with some Nintendo-esque parts. The sound is akin to a tiny little mouse that has grown the wings of a fairy and has to leap over the keys of a piano to earn miniature spun sugar coins.
Grandfeathered is overall an album of powerful intensity and astronomical uplift. Having seen Pinkshinyultrablast play when they were touring the UK last autumn, I know that these songs will sound remarkable live. I still won’t understand it, but to have those wind-chime vocals and sumptuous sounds washing over me like ocean waves will be breath-taking. Grandfeathered has the potential to unleash something from deep within, and truly encapsulates the notion that music doesn’t have to follow staid formulaic conventions in order to be genuinely moving.
Rating: 4.7/5