Graywave – Before
Musicians, by virtue of their profession, tend to spend the most amount of their time listening to sounds, organizing them in their minds, learning their various textures. It’s only natural then that professional, experienced musicians will feel inclined to create various projects across their careers, some dealing with niche styles.
Jess Webberley’s musical project Graywave, for example, works with shoegaze music treated through a modern lens. This is not a typical British rock 3-minute single in the sense that it swings and offers witty quotes. This is the equivalent of a sonic experiment where the various sounds and their properties are what is actually being studied.
Dreamy, reverb-drenched guitar chords offer the canvas for the languid vocals. Then, the song peaks around the chorus, but even the attack of the distorted guitars is kept muffled by the liquefying production—a very interesting experiment best appreciated, just as the sun is setting.
SuckerTrap – Dressed in Black
Rock icons don’t always have to be subtle or get dressed from the fanciest stores in town. In fact, so many of the rockstars many of us still prize today were able to make it on sheer attitude alone. A good haircut and the right shirt never hurt either.
If that were the only criteria to get SuckerTrap noticed, the group would certainly be on their way. Attitude-wise, especially, this is a group that seems ready to hit any stage. However, their single Dressed in Black, which is as simple and hard-hitting as the group’s image, also makes them unlikely candidates for heavy-rotation on the few remaining rock radio waves.
The production of the tune reminded me of an awful lot of late 80s hair metal. The writing, pop-sugar poured over menacing, vague double entendre lyrics are ripped from a similar time in music. From their direction to their attire, there’s something endearing about SuckerTrap.
