Sidewave - Glass Giant
- Written by Julia Lamb
Sidewave’s sound is one big melting pot; with the likes of The Smashing Pumpkins, angst-teeming ‘90s rock and awash with spacey sounds home to their 2012 album, Oceania. That’s not to say their latest offering is a carbon copy. Glass Giant glides between atmospheric slow-burners and distortion-swamped stoner-rock: opening song ‘Grounded’ sits somewhere in between, over an abrasive guitar riff that whirrs throughout like a broken record, Phil Golyshko croons both wishfully and despondently: “I wanna see you in the morning/I’ll take you somewhere new. But I find myself back in the garden/Just taking in the view”. He sings with mellowness and subtlety and to draw another Smashing Pumpkins comparison, it brings to mind Billy Corgan’s vocals over ‘1979’. Golyshko’s smooth voice gives the band an interesting sound considering it’s laid on top of gritty, feed-backing guitars that are anything but clean. Another notable aspect of ‘Grounded’ is that the song tumbles along at a relatively slow pace, one that’s present throughout the album, lending an element of hypnotic calmness to the music.
The album’s lead single ‘Supersonic’ isn’t the strongest track on the record, but its swelling, hooky chorus makes it no surprise that Sidewave has put it out into the world as their front runner for the album. ‘Honest to God’ and ‘Moonshine’ kick off with fuzz-doused grungy riffs, while tracks like ‘Pine’ and ‘Romance Is Dead’ endeavour to be crisp. The band takes a slightly left of field approach on, ‘This Is Who You Are’, which builds from a delicate guitar instrumental into their trademark muddy sound before the vocals make a late entrance at the song’s two-minute mark.
Sidewave find their footing in their ability to bring ‘90s shoegaze/stoner music to 2015 without it feeling dated and have concocted an album that has all the attitude of ‘90s grunge whilst remaining easily accessible to the casual listener. While it’s abrasive, Glass Giant is far from aggressive, and in fact ends up being oddly hypnotic.