Apparitions

It's a wonder how exactly Light Pollution wound up on the hallucinogenic Carpark Records. It's not that the band doesn't venture into experimental sounds, but they're nowhere near the oddness of labelmates Keith Fullerton Whitman, Dan Deacon or Toro Y Moi. In fact, unlike any of those weirdos, Light Pollution have a genesis in the mainstream - (the third track on Apparations, Drunk Kids, opens with a Brill Building 'boom, ba-boom tish') - their psychedelic and experimental brushes are only the skin of a pop-minded skeleton; the results, as expected, are acceptable at best.

Thud Thud-Thud. Crash. Thud Thud-Thud. Crash. So the recognisable heartbeat of shoegaze goes, stoically pulsing through at least 25 years of dreamily fuzzed up sounds, its appearance a constant reminder that you are indeed listening to A Shoegaze Album. And we’ve been fine with that, for the most; the church of various interpretations on what was made notable by the Jesus & Mary Chain, the Cocteau Twins et al has never been broader in 2010, yet much like vultures picking at remnants of the initial kill, there’s at least as many groups looking to feed on the unwanted debris left by the likes of Deerhunter and Serena-Maneesh; Light Pollution are just such a band.