Review Summary: The soundtrack to every fleeting fantasy of a lover's warm embrace.
In a lifetime full of suffering, we often dream of an everlasting romance. A fire that never goes out, a precious moment forever captured as a memory where the weight of the world just seems to be lifted from our shoulders. This feeling of compassion, solace, and comfort that wraps around the mind like a warm blanket. Coloring the thoughts of our past and awakening the dormant soul, it's an indescribable feeling that one must experience firsthand, brought together by a radiant embrace. This tightening of the chest and shortness of breath, what is this feeling? Of course I'm talking about
love. An often overused word, but without it what are we really as human beings? Empty, emotionless cogs fueling a broken machine bound to a lifetime of servitude just to afford a home? We are so much more than that, because of love and understanding. A unique bond with a special someone, a person you can't quite live without. Something as simple as sharing a laugh or finding familiarity on a particular topic can spark a future of possibility where this person becomes part of the very fabric of your heart and soul. Love can be fragile though, a cruel mistress that can make or break the spirit. The risk of heartbreak will always loom overhead, and everything can come crumbling down into a state of numbness and estrangement. Here we find a classic tale of human romance, one illustriously presented through the music of California based shoegaze band Whirr.
Originally formed in 2010 under the name Whirl, the band was forced to change their name after a threatened legal dispute from a woman performing acoustic covers of Black Sabbath songs.
Dumb right? Regardless of their unfortunate name change, Whirr is a remarkable band worthy of note that has a knack for killing the listener softly. Bursting onto the scene with their debut EP
Distressor in 2011, Whirr quickly established themselves as leaders of the underground shoegaze scene. Drifting through ethereal waves of hazy, yet lush guitars and reverb soaked croons courtesy of Byanca Munoz, Distressor sounds like a love letter sent directly to Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine with its own added flare. Songs like "Leave" and "Sandy" reflect on Munoz's inner Rachel Goswell energy whereas songs like "Meaningless" and "Child" take a page directly out of Kevin Shields' book with their dizzying, heavy guitars and noisy rambunctiousness.
Distressor is an EP that sits firmly in its influences, but is still impressive in its own right. Ready to make a definitive statement with their music, Whirr would embolden their career with 2012's debut LP
Pipe Dreams alongside newfound vocalist Alexandra Morte. Following this, 2014's gloomier
Sway would introduce the addition of male vocals from guitarist Loren Rivera to the fold. During the same year as
Sway's release, Whirr would continue to collaborate with fellow shoegaze band Nothing and release a split EP home of their most commercially successful song, "Ease." Unfortunately not long after the release of
Sway and the Nothing split, Whirr's upward trajectory would be cut short by certain controversial comments made on their social media page and the band would subsequently be put on hiatus for many years. Another forgotten memory of a long lost love, or would Whirr ever see the light of day once again?
Like a lucid dream manifested into reality, the band would finally return from the void in 2019 with their magnificent swan song album and one last love letter to the fans,
Feels Like You. Originally slated to be a vinyl exclusive release, only 650 copies of the album were printed upon its arrival. However, after selling out almost immediately and thus imminently leaking online, the band decided to put out a proper digital release. A blessing that they made this decision, because
Feels Like You is a magnum opus in every regard, a culmination of all the band's best elements more refined than ever before. Starting things out with the aptly titled "Mellow" a stunningly gorgeous, enchanting piano melody blossoms into the band's trademark display of fuzzy, winding guitar passages graciously meandering underneath waves of indecipherable lyrics (this is a shoegaze band after all.) This song will undoubtedly grip the hopeless romantic in you and won't let go. "Mellow" drifts away into the more up-tempo, triumphant sounding "Wavelength" and the phenomenal introspective masterpiece "Younger Than You." A magnificent three song run to start the album,
Feels Like You will find its way into your heart early on. Even the most stoic amongst us with walls built high will become smitten as Whirr carries us away into a romantic fantasy, boundless and true.
Twisting and turning through the night under a pale blue moonlight,
Feels Like You entrances with its mystic allure most particularly found in the bedazzling "Before You Head Off." Swaying through delicate waves of melancholic bliss and lustful charm, the band decides to show off some new tricks. Not all is delicate and dreamlike in the second half of this fantasy, as the vertigo inducing guitars in "How Time Stretches" and "Rental" show a more aggressive side of Whirr. Proving love can be tumultuous and heavy, where not all is well with your better half. The weight of life's most precious treasure can be heavy at times, winding through a rollercoaster of emotions almost constantly. Closing track "Under the Same Name" brings these themes full circle and embodies
Feels Like You at its core. Nostalgic for a time long past, awakening from this ecstasy induced fantasy and hurled into the harsh reality of the real world. One that is often gloomy, depressing, and starving for true connection. A dormant love just waiting to be awakened, one that sometimes can only exist in dreams.
Whirr is ultimately a band that embodies the true meaning of love. Emotionally powerful, yet daunting and sometimes crushing. A precious gift that many simply cannot live without, yet a painful scar for others. A memory, warm and inviting that reminds us maybe being human isn't such a bad thing, or a stubborn reminder of what was never meant to be.
"What I have now I'm afraid to lose. I understand how it feels to be adored when there is no one like you."
