Spirit Youth

When the term “shoegaze” is applied to modern indie bands, it usually refers to big, washed-out guitars meant to be appreciated for texture more than tone. But Brooklyn trio The Depreciation Guild—which features two members of indie-pop act The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart—also swipes the less-talked-about twitches of genre flag-bearers like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive, from hollow drum-machine loops to tambourines that bob like buoys in a gale. And so, in the same way that the Pains Of Being’s 2009 debut conjured the early-’90s twee of bands like Black Tambourine, the first sensation delivered by the second album from The Depreciation Guild is one of recognition.

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On their striking debut LP, 2007’s self-released In Her Gentle Jaws, Brooklyn’s Depreciation Guild combined various sounds of the moment—eight-bit blips and beeps borrowed from the rising chiptune scene, fuzzed-out guitars from the shoegaze revivalists—to create a swirling brand of indie-pop all their own. In the intervening years, like-minded artists have seen their stars rise, most notably, Depreci ation Guild frontman Kurt Feldman and guitarist Christoph Hochheim’s other band, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart. In light of this fact, it would have been all too easy for the Guild to either ride the Pains’ coattails or lean closer toward a well-defined, t rendy aesthetic (chiptune, shoegaze, chillwave, etc.). Yet on their sophomore effort, Spirit Youth, the Depreciation Guild largely choose to go their own way, with mixed results.

Full Review | More Reviews from Publication | Top Rated of 2010