Distorted drums lead out ‘Car Crash’, the opening track on this sixteenth (!!) album from New York natives Her Vanished Grace, before a heavy guitar riff hints at something approaching rock. Then banks of guitar shimmer into scene and Charles Nieland’s vocal takes us into familiar Her Vanished Grace territory, but with an edge: The pace is more up tempo, this is dreampop you can tap your foot too. In the right light you could even find yourself dancing.
You’ll stop when ‘Fade Away’ comes in and stops you dead though – this is the sort of song that doesn’t come along too often. It’s slow, heavily hazy guitars mix in a fog with synths, and drums thud as the noise builds, beautifully encapsulating the sound of a band that knows exactly where its place in world is. When Nieland’s vocal arrives, it’s as if thunder has clapped across the sky and it’s raining for the first time in months. “If it came down to what you see, and the inside is just like me, would you silently turn away?” he asks in the devastating opening line. There are elements of Depeche Mode in here, maybe Echo & The Bunnymen, definitely U2 (The chorus sounds like it could shift into ‘With Or Without You’) and when Nance Nieland arrives to harmonise, goosebumps arrive with her. If the album stopped on this track, it would still be worth the money.
Cocteau Twins are proving themselves to be an enormous influence on many dreampop bands these days and ‘Bridge of Sighs’ could find a place on Heaven or Las Vegas. That’s possibly why the track that follows it, ‘Break Down’, sound a tad out of place, granted this is forgotten after the first few bars. It’s a more upbeat, positive track that could define the term ‘dreampop’ as guitars fire furiously in the background while vocals ping back and forth, the male and female Nieland voices melting into each other.
That a minor quibble over the tracklisting is about the only thing that comes close to criticism speaks volumes. For a band that has been making music since the late 80s it can’t be easy to sound so fresh, so current. There’s a more electronic sound on ‘Hungry’, showing the band’s progression and ability to take inspiration from other genres. It is dark and brooding and mixing the vocals down into the track, it creates a haunting sensation.
This track marks a turning point and from title-track ‘Star-Crossed’ the mood takes a more introspective direction. Album closer ‘Earth Stood Still’ is a reminder of the band’s ability to write catchy pop melodies against a backdrop of controlled reverb.
It would be too easy to label Her Vanished Grace simply a shoegazing band. While this album is unlikely to find mainstream success it goes beyond the bounds of niche music. It’s rich, multi-layered and melodic, with crisp production that gives it a cleaner polish than many of its contemporaries. Noel Gallagher once said that for a time in the mid-90s “the biggest bands were the best bands”. Star-Crossed is another example of how that is no longer anywhere near the case.
