Whirr - Pipe Dreams (2012)

Full Length, Tee Pee Reecords
March 13, 2012

Genre: Shoegaze/Dream Pop
Region: USA

I loved their Distressor EP a fuckload, and their June EP was just as nice. This is their long awaited first album.

It's true that after bands like Ride, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, The Jesus And Mary Chain, Lush, Cocteau Twins, etc. created and perfected the shoegaze/dream pop sound that one could argue there wasn't many ways to elevate the sound — unless you took it into directions that Have A Nice Life, Sweet Trip, Alcest, Crooked Necks, The Twilight Sad and The Angelic Process have taken it, and then it's hardly even the same genre. Still bands like Ringo Deathstarr, Asobi Seksu and Whirr show that the genre can birth some beautiful groups and sounds.

Whirr (formerly Whirl) have perfected their sound well with Pipe Dreams. The album is just over 30 minutes of floating ethereal chords with an angelic vocal performance from Byanca (occasionally harmonized with the guitarist Loren), lush synths that drift in and out, and hypnotizing, vibrant drumming all coming together to create a hazy, dreamy, warm ocean of noisey shoegaze. The vocals are definitely my favorite aspect here as they couple with breathing, effect drenched instruments to mold some beautiful textures.

At times it is a sedated and soft experience, either sad or euphoric while in other tracks it's upbeat, noisy and twangy, more pop oriented and catchy. It's always loud. There is no particularly jarring moments though as the album seems to effortlessly flow together and the songs are edited down (nice and short) so as to leave one feeling pleased; there is no wear from Pipe Dreams.

In the end I love this record. It definitely improves on their first EP which was already stellar. I really recommend picking this one up. Tee Pee Records has the album for order go over there and grab a copy if you like what you hear. You can also follow them on tumblr or listen to previous albums on bandcamp.

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