eMusic Review
Recent shoegazer types have been quite taken with matters aquatic. Airiel offered up mermaids and conflict in Sealand, while Tearwave opted to weep an entire watery swell. The Daysleepers clearly don't want to be left out and, after a couple of well-received EPs, have also looked to the ocean to inspire their debut full-length.
This makes sense really, because the glimmering underwater world is a perfect companion for these purveyors of fluid dreampop. Delay-driven antics and mythical lichen-dwelling beasties make happy seabedfellows, at least if the shimmer and thrust of "Release the Kraken" are anything to go by. And the creature connections continue with "Tiger in the Sea," whose cliffside-erosion guitars do indeed suggest a large feline thrashing amidst the undertow. Both tracks owe much to the Daysleepers 'secret weapon — unexpectedly vigorous percussion, which ensures that the more restless of these songs have considerable propulsion.
There are calmer shores too, of course. "The Secret Place" is a treasure cave of synth swells and half-buried sparkles, while "Summerdreamer" gradually blends its male-female vocal interplay into one lengthy, lingering sigh of contentment. Immersion awaits in these depths. Dive in and bliss out.