South America has been a hotbed of shoegaze and psych for many years now, with countless bands bringing the beautiful noise to places as far flung as Peru, Mexico, Argentina and Venezuela, with Lorelle Meets The Obsolete perhaps the best known, certainly in psych circles. Not forgetting Resplandor, who are fine purveyors of the gaze and dreampop from Lima, Peru.
Thus here we are with Buenos Aires, Argentina, natives Nax. Comprising Nicolás Castello, Juan Marcos Hernández and Gabriel Hernández , they have released 16 ep’s and singles since they dropped their debut ep ‘Amalgama‘ ep back in 2013. Having a number of lineups, they are currently completed by Nicolás Garimano (guitar) and Jonathan Sansone on drums, they have played with Nicolás for a few years now, another key person involved with the band is Christian Bocon, who mastered the album, producing the splendid result here.
The album opener and second single ‘‘Anniversaries’ bursts forth with an urgent and decisive headlong flourish, capturing you straight away, giving notice of intent from the outset, telling of someone who no longer feels the wish to celebrate the passage of time, something we can all perhaps relate to. After this stormer, comes the lush, gentle dreamscape Of ‘Nights’, with it’s more nuanced, dreamier, enchanting, ascents and drops…a song of defiance, and the sadness of realisation.
Here is a link to the ‘Aniversarios’ single on Bandcamp…
https://naxmusic.bandcamp.com/album/celebrar-aniversarios-single-2
up next is ‘Make Me Forget’, where the wish to forget that which came before is strong, a desire to move on and seek a new beginning , a sense of optimism springs from the well and builds delightfully amid the swell of sound.
Onwards to ‘Made Of Water’ and the spectre of selfishness rears it’s head, as the guitar rumbles through the chorus as breezy as a zephyr…the cheery delivery masking the real message, sugar-coating it and thus making it more menacing….
Up next is the sumptuous, drowsy swoon of ‘Ice Angels’, which indeed feels like “falling, stylishly gliding…”, like a kite dropping with the breeze, gliding on the currents soaring high before eventually you regain your sense of grounding.
‘Luna’ floats along with the same dreamy, drowsy wash of sound, as you float along on the guitar rush, while the rhythm sweeps you up and away with it’s keen, effervescent kick.
Next track ‘Repeater’ slides along sweetly, softly caressing you , repeatedly cascading on a swirl of beautiful noises and sensual, beatific bliss.
‘sunflowers’ delves into the hopes and desires of something that is seemingly just out of reach, but still reaches, grasping, ever hopeful, never giving up, always reaching for the golden chalice, sort of saying don’t give up on your wishes, hopes or dreams…
Second to last is we have the elegiac ‘Kria‘ where Hope intertwined with despair, as to say that they are two sides of the same coin, where we can have the one, but must also go through the latter before we let the hope see us through.
So, here we are with album closer ‘Frozen’, where the guitars swell and soar, heading forth with energy and purpose, uplifting to counteract the sadness in the song, not allowing you to dwell, but urging you to rise and reach for the sky.
All in all, a very fine album, and one that will see them on the lips of shoegaze fans the world over in the months and years to come,
The album is available now from the Nax Bandcamp page, go buy, you will be very glad you did.
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