Crash

From the ashes of Detroit gothic rockers Caelum Bliss and the electro-tinged Deathgirl.com comes Ether Aura. Crash, their debut, is a stunning piece of neo-shoegaze dream pop, an invigorating if slightly derivative mixture of Curve and Cocteau Twins. Opener "All Doves Grey" sets the table for the feast to come: Tony Hamera's soaring, fuzz-drenched guitar couples with Bret Haupt's equally distorted bass, William King's nimble kit work underlines and punctuates the vibe, and Kate Hinote's emotion-drenched vocals top everything off, evoking the blissed-out sound of early-period Lush. Over the course of 11 tracks, this would get perhaps a little tiring, but Ether Aura mix it up enough to keep the listener on his toes. "6 Days Yesterday" is a straight-up pop song that would have been huge if My Bloody Valentine had kept making records and paved the way for bands like this to become popular. "Falling" sounds like what Cocteau Twins would sound like, had they continued their sound past Milk & Kisses. Fans of the bands mentioned as comparators here will be pleased. This is well-executed shoegaze, and there's not much of that going around anymore.