Hover

A secret fear that this steadily improving Fresno, California shoegaze trio might have prematurely peaked on 2005's Oceanographer EP (after two promising albums) is crumpled up and chucked into the shredder. Hover is as good as that EP, the three years likely spent carefully mounting nine more killers to contest for the crown of "best." Like their brothers in arms down south, L.A.'s Darker My Love — who slant toward Jesus & Mary Chain, Ride, and Pale Saints to Sleepover's heavier, string-bending My Bloody Valentine-gone-Slowdive sweeps and Swervedriver slashes — this thrusting threesome pull out every stop. Hover ranges from gently beautiful burbles (again with a slight warp of whammy bar and distorted spectral vistas) such as "Make You Sing" and the closing epic "Songwriting for Dummies," to the hammer-damage riffing and soaring melody of the stand-out "Tremble" — leader Luke Giffen making use of an angelic top range to drive his hook home. This and smashers such as "Edward Said" and "Funnel Cloud" take flight on Eric Peters' low-end bass rumble and dynamic drummer Vince Corsaro's groove. And given such backing, Giffen's guitars are like rocket launchers of sonic darts, a cathedral of cosmic cacophony too post-punk-toughened to float away in a navel-gazing narcissism or impressionistic incoherence. Perhaps that's what makes them so formidable: they beat you up as much as cram your speakers with cloudy, starburst soundscapes. Ten years after their first release, Sleepover Disaster is suddenly the thickest flare of any band that ever lost years to the Cocteau Twins or MBV's "Soon." Like For Against's Shade Side Sunny Side, the well-named Hover is spectacular dream pop, breathing new life and volume into shoegaze's enduring ghostly dissonance. ~ Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover, Rovi