"Loud music from California" boasts the Tumblr homepage of Whirr, the 6-person shoegaze set up formerly known as Whirl. "Pipe Dreams" is the debut full length following up last summer's EP 'Distressor' - and slips comfortably in with the international shoegaze revival of recent years. With sonic ancestors in the way of My Bloody Valentine, Lush, Chapterhouse and 90s shoegazers of their ilk, Pipe Dreams is a sensual vintage mesh of all pervading reflective sound: angelic multilayered vocals delicately etched beneath heavy guitar fuzz. The watery prog-rock may have something to do with guitarist Nick Bassett, also of post-metal band Deafheaven. The acts share a similarly explosive, guitar driven emotive weight that adds a tumultuous energy to tracks like 'Junebouvier', and sunny undulating noise-poplet 'Bogus' (a catchy standout in my humble opinion).
But apart from wearing the right Grandpa hat, Whirr manage to articulate and express with a rare emotional eloquence. 'Reverie' and 'Toss' display a shadowy pensivity not typically seen in a genre that often works on pure aesthetics (not that there's anything wrong with that!). Tracks like 'Wait' are infused with a cold, goose-pimple-inducing potency brought through by airy electro pulses and buzzing crescendos.
Then a brave turn in the form of lo-fi number 'Formulas and Frequencies’ - the basic yet captivating circular melodies and defined unrelenting rhythm featured throughout the record are this time underpinned by jangly un-distorted guitar and acoustic piano. ‘Formulas’ is almost threadbare in its emptiness amongst those other thickly adorned tracks, but adds to a pensive, miasmic air. Fortunately indie melodic dream-pop 'Toss' is about to lighten the mood.
Watercoloured yet bold, dreamy yet energetic - injected noise-pop zeal with an electro water wash: Whirr are a confidently self aware contender in the so-named nu-gaze scene of the new decade. These hypnotic curtains of layered on sound reveal something new on each listen. Eyes shut, headphones on, volume up: wrap yourself in a fuzzed-up 90s flashback.
