wintergaze

WOW!!! This is the best birthday present of all time :) Might be recency bias, but this is incredible and somehow better than all the other singles. Feels like a return to the masterpiece that is “Where We’ve Been”. I also love the callback to “Statues”.

To start, I think the approach of having "Love Story" be the only single that landed on the album actually worked out in their favour as I don't think the other singles quite align with the sound here. I think it's one of those albums where the short track list is justified since the pacing works so well with having the shorter tracks encompass the record.

Instrumentally, the extreme layering of acoustic guitar has so much emotion to it, you can just tell it's a band ... read more

To me, "Ricochet" feels so flat. When all the instruments come together on almost every song it doesn't feel full at all. It feels squished together.

Genuinely, I think there's only 3 or 4 songs that don't feel like the same bland indie rock/pop... thing that just exists? ("Light On Our Feet", "Cruise", "Agony Freak" and "Ricochet"). And it's just the little decisions like the string arrangements on "Light On Our ... read more

While this is one of their tamer songs, it doesn't lose its charm for me, as this style of swelling into a densely engulfing climax is incredibly addictive. For example, "mirrors" from their debut EP has slowly become my favourite track by them, with the control they have over the atmosphere to create this slow-burning, encompassing feeling.

This feeling is replicated here, and I think I might even prefer it over "mettle" though both are excellent tracks. Anyways, I ... read more