Whirlpool

This album was my first ever Shoegaze album! So bear with me as I explain why I love this album, some of the drawbacks, and what I believe this album means to me. Cuz It might be a couple of paragraphs.

TLDR: Whirlpool is a Shoegaze album that is for the most part very consistent. The flow of the album is really good, and the writing is amazing both lyrically and musically! If you ever wish to research the fuzzy vortex that is Shoegaze, this album is imperative to listen to on your journey! Insanely catchy, and funny cat on the cover. Who could want something more honestly

The one thing that I love the most about this album is the lyrics. Very well written to the point where I find it personal. Almost every song on the album speaks of sleeping and dreams in a way that evokes a beautifully tragic poignancy. Which works really well with the Shoegazy fuzz blaring behind it. I will be talking about this in greater detail down the line but yeah, the lyrics are awesome!

I also love how the album starts very upbeat, then to just go insane with Sixteen Years, Satin Safe, and Feel the Same. It makes sense both in the context of the lyrics and how the music progresses in the songs themselves. There is one problem with how the album flows though, and it's the ending. Every time I thought about the ender of the album I always said it was Come Heaven, but then have to correct myself because no it's actually In My Arms. In My Arms seems to repeat much of the same in terms of lyrics that Come Heaven conveys. The song seems pointless to me, as I felt Come Heaven Is much stronger as a closer and more emotionally potent. Of which the album needed near the end in my opinion.

My favorite track off of this album is Satin Safe. I adore how hectic it got near the end of the song, and how loud it was. I really love loud Shoegaze. The riff from the beginning of the song elevating further after the "Invade my beauty with your love," line was amazing. And the slow drums in the background worked incredibly with the song.
Some honorable mentions are Falling Down, April, If You Want Me, and Sixteen Years.

I re-listened to Whirlpool for this review and realized just how hopeless this album felt near the end. This has to do with the lyrics. Like I said before almost every song talks about dreaming. But what does it mean in the context of the lyrics? It is a metaphor for one's mind's obsessions and addictions. Being so deep into something that it becomes a mindless, self-destructing routine. "A vacuous bliss" as stated in the song Autosleeper, is one of the lines in the album that convey this the best. Then Satin Safe rolls in and expands on what toll these dreams or rather a state of mind entail. Satin referring to Manchester slang for alcohol. Another thing that I found was repeated is Heaven and Hell. In the song Treasure, it's said that at first, he's in Heaven, and then he's in hell. After that, it says that someone else is in Heaven and he is in hell. Essentially what I'm getting at here is that his state of mind is hell. And in Come Heaven, he wishes to no longer feel this pain and wants out. He wants heaven.

This is what I believe the album means, although perhaps I'm just looking too into it. Maybe all this dream talk is just because of that silly cat on the album cover sleeping in a cozy lil ball, god that album cover is purrfect. Anywho! It is 2:00 am and I need to sleep. I love this album so much as you can tell by the 4 paragraphs hovering above you. It is a very important album that helped me delve deeper into the genre of Shoegaze which would become my favorite genre of music ever!

Thank you for braving the long sea of paragraphs! :D Cheers