YUCK

GLOW & BEHOLD (FAT POSSUM)

11/20

Yuck proved quite a point with their 2011 debut of Dinosaur Jr.-influenced indie bangers – it showed a marked improvement from their Cajun Dance Party, Myspace-influenced indie bangers. But they’ve since shed a crucial member in frontman Daniel Blumberg, and appear to have fallen back on their 90s nostalgia a little too deeply. Glow & Behold‘s main appeal, and major flaw, is it sounds invariably like Ride, Slowdive, Pavement … you name it. It sounds like every big, cool 90s band and has no shame in doing so. At points this is admirably conceived, like in the ethereal instrumental opener Sunrise in Maple Shade, which basks in Spiritualized’s droning space-chords and melodic arpeggios. But on the flipside we have tracks like Rebirth, which begins as an almost blasphemous attempt at My Bloody Valentine and barely manages to lift itself into just-above-averageness. It’s not that any of the songs on the album are bad – they just can’t possibly live up to the artists they’re based upon. When they get it right, Yuck furrow a fine line in shoegaze nostalgia; see Out of Time, Lose My Breath and the two minutes of looped guitar that provide the outro to the album. But these peaks can only partially make up for the other lacklustre and unoriginal outings.

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Words: James Balmont