Bubbles and Black Lace: Tamaryn's Shimmering Third Record

Tamaryn

I first came across Kiwi shoegaze artist, Tamaryn, in 2012.  I downloaded a free promotional single, "Heavenly Bodies" off of her second album, "Tender New Signs".  I loved it immediately with its swirling guitars and soft vocals.  It was evident that this was a Cocteau Twins rip-off, but I did not begrudge this.  I think it is fantastic when artists today pay homage to my favorite group of all time.  The song was good enough that I always intended on checking out the whole album, but I never got around to it.

It was a pleasant surprise when Tamaryn released a third album called "Cranekiss" to good reviews.  Last year, she embarked on a tour with pioneer shoegaze band, Lush - their first in twenty years.  Over the last year, I have had the pleasure of listening to the album.  Tamaryn has shown that she can successfully transcend the shoegaze genre and make a resplendent and satisfying pop album.

Tamaryn with members of Lush

"Cranekiss", the principal single, has the same Cocteau Twins flare that "Heavenly Bodies" had - scintillating guitars with heavy reverb, a strong Will Heggie-style bass line, and Tamaryn doing vocal acrobatics.  But "Hands All Over Me" takes a markedly different turn, a mouth-watering synthpop tune in the vein of Chvrches or Phantogram.  "Last" is another delectable poptart, faintly reminiscent of Kitten, in other words, not very goth or shoegaze at all, but very dream pop with some Tears For Fears hooks and Tamaryn doing some gravity-defying vocal scales.  "Collection" continues the effervescent new wave swell, sounding kind of like Altered Images.  "Keep Calling" takes a shift for the melancholy, reminding us that this band is from a genre on the darker side of the melancholy spectrum - a beautiful ballad but with a strong, New Order-style bass.  The song shimmers with moodiness.  "Softcore" is still my favorite selection off this record, going full goth - a spooky bass line, scracthy guitars, and yet it is oddly danceable.

Cranekiss

"Fade Away Slow" goes all shoegaze with the vocals nothing but a hoarse whisper fed through reverb.  The music is a dull hiss, dragging along like an echo of the lyrics, but carried forward with a down-tempo synth beat.  "I Won't Be Found" continues with the ethereal - impressionistic guitars with voices like wish crashing on a mountainside, the music just a whisper of leaves blown off the peat moss.   "Sugar Fix" is by far one of my favorites as well, and probably one of the most Cocteau of the songs on here with its candy guitars and pummeling bass and dance beat offset by Tamaryn's sweet and diaphanous voice.  "Intruder (Waking You Up)" starts with an insistent thrum set over watery guitars, flashes of light shining on the water.

Tamaryn really isn't covering new territory, for those who know the genre, but she is bringing it to a new and younger audience.  God bless her for it.  It is a pleasant rehash of things that have faded under the unkind glare of time.  Lately, I have listening to newer and harsher versions of shoegaze like A Place To Bury Strangers, a band that takes the gentleness and buries it under distortion.  Tamaryn is an earlier recollection of shoegaze, chaff blowing on the summer wind.  But in times of winter, this is the stuff you dream about.  I like how she has almost given two tones to this album.  The first half is light and effervescent, and the second is darker and moodier.  Kind of like life.