by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Disposable America are already off to a tremendous start in 2019. They’ve released one of our favorite albums so far this year in Community College’s debut and they’ve just announced the highly anticipated halfsour records (together with Fire Talk). Their next release will be Nothing Happens Here, the debut EP from Los Angeles’ Soft Blue Shimmer. While the quartet may be far from their label’s home base in Boston, their dream-pop sound and radiantly fuzzy introspection fits right in with newfound East Coast family. The band’s press release draws comparisons to Alvvays and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and neither of those are too far of the mark. There sound relies on big distortion (shoegaze… nearly shoegaze… noise pop, whatever) and the softly delivered vocal melodies that really tie it all together, sitting just above the haze and sticking upon impact.
Lead single “Chamoy,” which we’re going to assume is named for the tasty hot sauces, isn’t so much a “spicy” track as it is a comfort. The song starts blown out and cools ever so slightly, but the guitars keep a surge that drifts just beneath the syrupy cool of the vocals. There’s plenty of distortion to get lost in and everything feels fluid, it feels natural. Notes are bent and textures blend together with vocal harmonies and a starry warmth that sounds like the aural equivalent of summertime. When the band drop into the bridge, the crescendo of their blissed out pop carries through to the fade, a noisy finale with a gentle touch.
Soft Blue Shimmer’s Nothing Happens Here is out June 28th via Disposable America.