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The Morning After Girls Breathe Life into Shoegaze

An oft-cited genre gets an energizing boost from this Australian group

The Morning After Girls

Alone.

Released on Jul 07, 2009

I’m always slightly wary of bands that define themselves—or are defined by others—as “shoegaze.” A friend and I were discussing this particular genre last week, and he brought up the point that it seems to be a catch-all classification for any band that might integrate a little bit of feedback into their sound. Then, he went off on a rant about how My Bloody Valentine is the definitive shoegaze band, and I left the conversation shortly after.  

This particular anecdote came back to me when listening to Alone, and learning that The Morning After Girls had, in fact, a distinct shoegaze sound. Quick surface-level side note: how fantastic is their name? Just saying it makes me want to listen to their albums. Beyond their moniker though, this band manages to achieve something else: a compelling rendition of what can often be a dull sound. 

With “Introduction,” the first track on the album (a fitting title, no?), The Morning After Girls manage to establish the foundation that the rest of Alone will build upon—a fairly impressive feat, considering the song’s 32-second length. The reverb flows perfectly into “The Best Explanation,” which features plenty of the soaring, distorted guitars and ethereal vocals that the shoegaze genre is so known for. The song has such an epic quality to it, listeners might worry that The Morning After Girls have given up all their goods before the album gets going. 

However, this is where they manage to break the mold a little bit—the following song “The General Public” (which you can listen to right here), maintains the huge guitar sounds of “The Best Explanation,” but it has a far more energized rock sound. It’s hard to imagine anyone standing still while this is playing. It’s these quick bursts of energy that set them apart from other shoegaze bands—instead of listening to them in a small club, this song begs to be played in an arena. 

They keep the experimentation going on “Who is They,” which features the best intro on the entire album. If you’re a fan of the vampire drama True Blood on HBO—and sweet Jesus, I hope you are—the first 35 seconds would be right at home in any episode. Unfortunately, the remaining minutes of the song don’t exactly live up to the tension that those taut string notes provide.  

The instances where Alone falls short aren’t numerous, but they certainly do exist. The track “You Need to Die” is bland, at best. The great guitars are still present, but they lack any real direction. They’re not incredibly energized, but they also haven’t committed to the fully distorted side of the spectrum. As a result, you’ve got a song that doesn’t really know what it’s doing on the album. 

Next time you need to hear some truly sweeping sounds, check out some of these tracks. Even though they sometimes fail to live up to their creative potential, it’s worth waiting around for when they do.

Posted by Alyssa Vincent on Jul 08, 2009 @ 6:00 am