Review Summary: Cali shoegazers offer a charming (if not comfortable) debut that is sure to please their pending, soon-to-be fans.
The artwork a band decides to pair with their albums can tell you a lot about their headspace during its production and its concept. In the three years between their debut EP and their newest release, Californian shoegaze act Distressor seems to have sunk even deeper into the misty shadows then they already were. That first EP (2019's Away) was a tidy, energetic, densely-packed set of tunes that played with 3rd/4th/5th/6th/whatever-wave shoegaze as good as any band in their weight class. But on Momentary, their sound has decelerated further, becoming a much more deliberate, intimate experience in the process. The slow build-up on the album's bookends ("Dearly" and "Wind") offer a tasteful atmosphere to envelop the listener before blasting them with noise, in a way that, amazingly, doesn't feel forced or passé. I have been known to get a little restless whenever bands pull out this sort of thing, but here, the melodies and stellar musicianship carry the song so well, I barely noticed the time drifting by me.
I say all of that, but I know myself too well. Of course I would have preferred the "noise-poppier" approach of their early work. I'm my own worst enemy when it comes to the dreamier side of this genre, I know. But there is genuinely a lot to like on Momentary. Album highlights like "Farewell" and "Keepsake" make up for their slower pace with wonderful guitarwork and some quality vocals. And the drumming is exactly what you would want from an album like this: pounding, powerful beats that simultaneously take center stage while also being a proper fixture of each song's darkened landscape. I feel that the album could have used a little more variety in its structure. This isn't an issue that I strictly have with Distressor though; a lot of shoegaze bands fall into this trap of songs sounding a little too similar across a tracklist. Even one or two stronger songs would've made this a genuine contender for this year's best, at least for me.
As it is though, Distressor's debut record has a restraint that should be admired. Like I said, the style their going for here isn't one that I usually find myself enjoying. So the fact that I felt compelled to relisten to this immediately after I finished it is high praise for someone like me. If their goal was to make hazy, melodic shoegaze that has an opaque veneer just slightly obscuring it, one foot firmly planted in the dark while still just visible enough to be within reach, then mission accomplished. I genuinely hope they find their audience, patiently waiting in the fog.
