Review Summary: A sort of redemption
At this point most people interested in alternative rock should be well familiar with the 3 pillars of shoegaze: My Bloody Valentine on the noisy layered side, Slowdive on the dreamy lush side and last we had Ride, who played on the more poppy melodic side. However, despite being the most accessible one, Ride have been the least popular band out of the three and sometimes discredited by shoegaze elitists who jokingly referred to their music as "britpop with reverb".
Their debut Nowhere still remains a highly regarded shoegaze classic, but after a series of strong EPs and another acclaimed album Ride have tried to jump on the actual britpop bandwagon. Unfortunately, this attempt was a critical and commercial failure (their final studio album was deleted from label's catalogue after one week), which resulted in the band itself disowning these records and breaking up.
And the rest is history, frontman Andy Bell kept trying his luck and formed a britpop band Hurricane #1 with little success, briefly reunited Ride for a TV show, joined Oasis (far past their prime) and their remnants Beady Eye.
After Beady Eye broke up in 2014, Bell started reflecting on his decisions, reunited his original band and now, after 3 years of touring they have finally completed their comeback album. The main question is, was it worth the wait?
Sound wise, the album is very much the logical continuation of their happy light shoegaze sound from Going Blank Again, if this record came out in '94, no one would act surprised.
However, the four lead singles, which are also the first 4 tracks on the album are kind of a mixed bag. The cheerful "Charm Assault" which sounds like Going Blank Again era B-side, suffers from a clunky sounding chorus. "Home Is A Feeling" has a nice dreamy sound, but is fairly forgettable and "All I Want" is a very catchy song with excellent use of reverb in the chorus.
But the real winner here is the 6 minute opening track "Lannoy Point", this long krautrock influenced jam with subtle use of electronics and true sense of build up is what a truly memorable opener should be. This song is a clear fan favourite on live shows.
Luckily, the rest of the album is more consistent. The other highlights include the lengthy jams where the band utilises their psychedelic influences, such as the explosive "Rocket Silver Symphony" or "Cali", which consists of the band repeating the same riff for most of the song's duration. There are also some real growers, such as the 7 minute title track and the closer "White Sands". These tracks don't even seem as long as they actually are despite being very low key.
You will not find any songs here as massive as their classics "Seagull", "Dreams Burn Down", "Leave Them All Behind" or "Grasshopper". Instead, there is a real chill summer vibe going on through the entire album, none of the tracks are particularly heavy and guitar feedback is used sparingly. Andy Bell's vocals aged surprisingly well and fit the dreamy mood of the record. It's also worth noting that all songs here flow very well together and this is definitely an album that works best as a whole.
So in the end, while it will not blow you away, Weather Diaries is a respectable comeback from a band that has finally got their stuff together and learned from their mistakes.
Their peers My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive have already released strong comebacks recently, so they also have competition to compare to. And even though this album is not as great as these two, considering Ride barely pushed their sound forward here, it is still a welcome return.
