Gingerlys S/T

Sometimes keeping up with all the music that comes out is the hardest thing, and often, a lot of bands, or even small hypes, just pass me by. The band Gingerlys was one of those, and I am really glad a mutual friend pointed them out to me because it was love at the first play! I instantly heard all sorts of influences that I really happen to like in indie music: the shimmering noise of shoegaze, the drive of indie-pop, the dreaminess of dreampop and the sweet vocals of tweepop. Now, a formula like that, of course, does not necessarily guarantee quality, but in the case of Gingerlys it works! They are clearly so attuned to this stuff, that it seems to ooze out of them quite naturally, and certainly doesn’t end up sounding formulaic or contrived.
The album kicks off with the single “Turtledoves” which, after an angelic intro, propels us sky-high above the trees. Jackie‘s voice is soothingly silky (reminding me of the Postmarks and Ivy),  and the balance between synths, reverberating guitar effects and jangle is near perfect. Second track “Playgrounds” – one of my favourite on the album – cuts right to the chase: “You’re not a kid anymore“, but nevertheless makes you feel like jumping up and down like one. Why? Well, because it’s like a big swirl of all kinds of best-loved flavours : MBV‘s “You Never Should“,  Pia Fraus’ “Day Week or Season“, and Stereolab‘s “Peng! 33“, oh and a bit of that soaring Swervedriver energy?! Enough to make you as happy as kid at the playgrounds. “See you Cry” is just a gem: moods of sweet melancholy are blended with sparkling, otherworldly detachment: like the crisp serenity of a first-snow-day. This same atmosphere prevails in “Elsewhere”, a very short but balmy track (1:51) full of dreams and things that could have been: “If I could then I’ll try a hundred times before /To get through the absence of seeing distant shores. /I wonder if I change the colors throughout her / the world could be your fantasy.” “100 Flowers” starts out as hard-core shoegaze, then leaves the earth to float above all the noise, again contemplating the discrepancies between the stale, grimness of realty, and the endless possibilities of imagination : “Dreams are ways you can connect to life outside a bitter, blank view. /Hundreds of flowers, you’ve got hundreds of flowers / Always stuck around the corner waiting for someone to find you.” These, in my opinion, were the highlights, but the other half of the album has plenty of pleasant surprises in store. Do yourself a favour: just buy the album! It’s a mere 7 USD on BandCamp!