-=- SHGZ -=-

Shoegaze * Indie * Post-Rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Psych-Rock * Ethereal

ARTIST..: Miniatures
ALBUM...: Jessamines

GENRE...: Indie
STYLE...: Shoegaze, Ethereal, Dream Pop

YEAR....: 2017
LABEL...: Saint Marie

FORMED..: Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
ENDED...: 29 May 2018, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

ENCODER.: FLAC 1.3.1 -8 -V
BITRATE.: 1046kbps avg
QUALITY.: 44.1kHz / 2 channels

SOURCE..: CD
TRACKS..: 11
SIZE....: 408.18 MB

URL..: http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/miniatures
http://www.facebook.com/miniaturesband

- TRACKLIST

1   Try                                     3:49
2   Jessamine                               6:25
3   To The Lake                             4:34
4   Form Into Soft And Wild                 5:19
5   Dust                                    3:37
6   Without Saying                          4:25
7   What You Want                           5:59
8   Silent Tide                             4:06
9   Slow                                    3:14
10  Honey                                   5:56
11  Standstill                              6:43

Total Playtime: 54:07

MBV-influenced NZ band whose debut album was released by Saint Marie in the
fall of 2017.

The debut album from 'Miniatures' is a dense and lush affair. Its textures
are tightly woven to create velvety soundscapes that envelope and endear.
Formed in 2012 and currently based in Melbourne, the trio seem to be a
further example of the strength of the Southern hemisphere's creative scene..

This one sounds like an 80's band, but it's not. Miniatures are coming from
New Zealand (Christchurch) and now are based in Australia (Melbourne). They
started as a dream pop/shoegaze duo releasing two EP's; The self-titled
'Miniatures' (Bleeding Gold, 2012) and 'DIS' (self-relased, 2013). Since last
August,  ChΘ Walden & Annemarie Duff  recruited the bassist Chris MacLean,
joined Saint Marie Records and officially introduced themselves to the
"world" as a trio. Alongside, announced that they were in studio, recording
their debut album 'Jessamines' which was expected to be released in mid 2016.
Finally, the debut album was released  last October.

'Jessamines' is an album that all fans of dream pop are going to love and be
mad about it. The dreamy atmosphere 'floods' from the introductory electronic
elements of the opening track 'Try'. Gradually, the familiar dream pop guitar
appears and while you think that is all, the ethereal vocals invade nicely as
another sound layer, before it is over, in purpose to complete the sonic
atmosphere. The successor 'Jessamine', we can hear the reverb overflowing and
dominant, explaining this way a real proof of the stated shoegaze band's
influences. And furthermore to be blended and become an additional hazy sound
layer in Miniatures' dreamy soundscapes alongside with the constant, in the
whole of the album,  well manipulated, high and in echo or delay vocals,
stand out hazy guitars and all the sounds combined to create distinctive
sonic textures. The track 'To The Lake', brings intensely to mind the Cocteau
Twins' skilled hazy guitar melodies, vocal harmonies manipulation and
instrumentation. Anyone could say very easily that the trio is fully
influenced from this pioneering dream pop band.  In the fourth track 'Form
Into Soft And Wild' the tempo changes to "down", the guitar with
characteristic dream pop effects and cleaner vocals but with effects like
delay  the sonic result is dreamy and atmospheric. The most-listened song
according to Spotify plays is 'Honey': Firstly, cause of the hazy & ethereal
vocals of Annemarie, and secondly cause of the exceptional sonic layer of
reverb and delay.  The soundscape becomes a swirl in alternate which takes
the listener away with it. The lead single 'What You Want' (available since
March 2016!), whose reverb inundates from start to finish, which may become
or be eventually considered as monotonous; A trap that any musician occupied
with this genre can fall into by mistake or lack of combinations and
uninspired instrumentation. In any case, Miniatures didn't fall in this trap!

Conclusively, 'Jessamines' is a great dream pop/shoegaze debut album from
this new promising band, carrying influences from the "holy" past (Lush, The
Sundays, The Smashing Pumpkins...). Alongside, it is yet another album of the
one of the most significant record labels serving the genre nowadays, Saint
Marie Records, and that means a lot. So prepare to take this music journey as
it is described and by the label's press review: "A journey through colour
and mood, high and low, fuzzy and shiny, light and shade. Allow the waves to
take you, and prepare to be swept away".

Miniatures' niche is enchanting listeners to a distant time and place. When
hearing the New Zealand band's rich, ethereal tracks, it's easy to forget
that the present even exists, as their music strongly brings to mind images
of the '80s and '90s, in particular the vintage dream pop of Slowdive's
Souvlaki and The Cocteau Twins' Heaven or Las Vegas, and the new wave art-pop
of Tears for Fears' Songs from the Big Chair, all of which carry a heavy
influence on their full length debut, Jessamines.

The album opens with the melancholic "Try," introducing Miniatures' brand of
shoegaze, declaring their territory with interlacing synths and guitars,
layered with angelic vocals. There's a vintage influence, but the sound is
one that feels sonically of the moment, as well as one that feels like it
makes time stand still. Sure, they reflect on the past and ruminate on what's
next, but their tracks have a way of pressing the pause button. The title
track takes on a brighter, more harmonious approach, reminiscent of the
eclectic energy of Grimes' Art Angels. Here, the colors of Miniatures begin
to show, undertaking a massive spectrum of emotions. Teeming with brilliant
chords, "Jessamines" presents a strong fusion of Duff's vocals and bellowing
guitars.

Single "What You Want" is quality dream pop, showcasing strong influences of
Lush and The Sundays. The accompanying video has an otherworldly glow,
inducing the feeling of a much-needed daydream. It's a bit harder than other
tracks, but shows the band's capability to tackle the raw sound needed to
create affecting shoegaze. The vocals are captivating and entrancing, and its
overlapping guitar riffs evoke an aesthetic of decades past. Jessamines has a
tone of adolescent yearning to it-each of the tracks could be sprinkled
throughout montages of Twin Peaks' high school moments. "Standstill" could
fill the homecoming dance hallways of the Lisbon sisters' one night of near
freedom, a dreamy ballad of haze and young romance.

Throughout Jessamines, Miniatures carries a bright, sparkling tone, one that
sometimes falls away from shoegaze. In maintaining this, the band creates a
warm glow, one that moves with them as they soar through a stellar debut.
Given that Jessamines arrives with such a well-crafted and mature sound, it's
easy to forget this is only the beginning for Miniatures.

It's easy to make comparisons with a band like Miniatures. With their
dreamlike female vocals and '80s style clean guitar chords, you can pick out
the sound of bands like The Cocteau Twins, The Sundays, and Lush... and these
comparisons are not unfounded as the band actually listed these bands as
influences. But what sets Miniatures apart from those bands comes not from
the individual components of the music, but how those sounds are produced and
put together.

Vocalist Annemarie Duff is dominant throughout the album. She has the classic
airy and surreal quality that comes with shoegazer music, but she uses more
reverb than her peers to the point where the lyrics are unintelligible for
most of the album. They become a hypnotic instrument used to paint the mood
onto the rest of the sounds. There is also a prominent amount of a clean
rhythm guitar with a delay effect on almost every track, while the second
guitar bounces back and forth between adding another layer of rhythm, like on
the tracks "Try" and "To the Lake," and adding fuzzed out distortion like on
"Dust" and "Honey." The band even goes as far as to have a guitar solo in the
track "Without Saying." All of this is done well, but the way the songs are
mixed make it so each song has very little in the ways of peaks and valleys.
Nothing is allowed to stand out from the rest of the sounds at any given
point. The vocals are allowed to stand out a little, but when you combine
their ethereal effect with delayed and sometimes fuzzy guitars and everything
feeling equally subdued, you end up with a wall of noise that can take some
work to penetrate. However, this is not unlike the effect created by bands
like My Bloody Valentine.

More casual fans of the dream pop and shoegazer genres may find that this
album requires a bit more work than usual to navigate, but like My Bloody
Valentine, there is an audience waiting to put in that kind of work.

-=- SHGZ -=-

Shoegaze
is a genre of alternative rock that
originated in  the late 80s. The genre is very
difficult to define, and it is even more difficult to evaluate music
within it. Generally, the genre is characterized by its
shimmering vocals, reverberating guitars, and
textural distortion that create
a tranquil, opaque
feeling.