Album Info

The Waves

Rock - 2010

It's difficult to tell whether San Francisco chanteuse Tamaryn is recreating ‘90s dream pop or if she's just been there... more

Tracklist

1

The Waves

5:06 min
2

Choirs of Winter

4:34 min
3

Love Fade

3:40 min
4

Haze Interior

3:45 min
5

Sandstone

4:57 min
6

Coral Flower

4:24 min
7

Dawning

4:36 min
8

Cascades

2:33 min
9

Mild Confusion

4:15 min

About The Waves

It's difficult to tell whether San Francisco chanteuse Tamaryn is recreating ‘90s dream pop or if she's just been there ever since Creation Records dropped that first Slowdive EP. Either way, she sounds like the real deal. And with one half of Sub Pop recordings artist Vue backing her (Rex Shelverton on guitar and Jonah Buffah on bass), there are no 21st-century anachronisms. The opening title track sounds like it could have been released alongside Curve's 1992 debut Doppelganger as Tamaryn sings like a young Siouxsie Sioux over blissed-out guitar wash and heavily reverberated hints of psychedelic fuzz. It's these elements of goth, shoegazing and psych that keep Tamaryn's debut sounding more honest and organic than derivative, especially on the undulating "Sandstone" where guitars howl and dive-bomb as though the hand of Kevin Shields was driving the whammy-bar, though it's Tamaryn's otherworldly vocals that take center stage. Her slightly diluted New Zealand accent inflects with a whispered charm on "Mild Confusion" where her breathy croon shows hints of the Verve's "Slide Away."