Wray - Wray

  by Adrian Janes

published: 22 / 2 / 2015

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Review

The slow fade-in to opener ‘Blood Moon’ makes it feel like you’re walking into a club, happening upon Wray halfway through a set: once it’s at full volume they’re already in flight, a Hüsker Dü-like urgency to the trio’s playing, even as the vocals are distanced by echo and a certain innate reserve. A glorious, soaring guitar solo abruptly cuts into ‘Apacheria’. As on a number of tracks, the vocals on the latter have a Thurston Moore blend of casualness and passion, like the quiet kid who’s smouldering inside, a feeling made explicit by David Swatzell’s guitar slashes. ‘Apacheria’ is also characteristic of the album in its command of melody amongst a fog of fuzz, in a low-key, Jesus and Mary Chain way. These opening songs are however surpassed by ‘Swells’, the echoing guitar intro slipping into a high energy but tuneful attack that’s like a Sugared Sonic Youth. Swatzell’s tremolo touches and David Brown’s bubbling bass further help make this track a stand-out. ‘May 15th’, the significance of the title as enigmatic as the typically elliptical lyrics (“Sanitize/My human parts/In the sky/It lies my/Human parts/In the sky”), initially creates a strong, sombre atmosphere of reverberating drums, guitar and affectless vocals. But the band then goes into an overlong, repetitive groove which reminds you of why the word ‘drone’ has bad associations both for music and bees. The final section does salvage things somewhat, Swatzell rediscovering his ability to hone a powerful guitar attack and also craft delicate embellishment. Much more concise, its plucked, ringing notes and synth wash part of an unusually spacious sound, ‘Graved’ is a love song of sorts. Shy vocals deliver a wistful lyric, like ‘Brief Encounter’ rewritten by Frank O’Hara (“Don’t stop/I like the way you act/Probably/You won’t see me again/That’s just the way things are.”) ‘Bad Heart’ returns to the earlier kind of energetic onslaught, a true Sugar rush with some especially fluid bass. Blake Wimberly’s drums, while never showy, here as always provide a strong foundation for his bandmates. Concluding with ‘Relative’, once more there are traces of Sonic Youth in the Moore-like vocals and some of the guitar work. Swatzell’s melodicism is again impressive, contrasting with blasts of William Reid-esque guitar. This is a fine debut, marrying musical strength and sensitivity. And with the forebears I’ve mentioned now past their heyday, there’s definitely a space for Wray. Their sound might be superficially labelled shoegaze - an impression their moody videos tend to support - but they can look up, towards a bright future.

Track Listing:-

1 Blood Moon
2 Apacheria
3 Swells
4 May 15
5 Graved
6 Bad Heart
7 Relative

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/wraymusic
https://twitter.com/wrayofficial

Label Links:-

http://communicatingvessels.net/
https://www.youtube.com/user/Communica
https://www.facebook.com/commvess
http://commvess.tumblr.com/
https://twitter.com/commvess