London indie label Sonic Cathedral has built a reputation for cherry-picking the very best quality bands the shoegaze scene has to offer. Dead Mellotron’s third album will do nothing to damage that. Originally singer/guitarist Josh Frazier’s solo project, the Louisiana band are now a three-piece, and you have to wonder if My Bloody Valentine swung through town during their Loveless tour and left some little dream-pop babies behind.
Their influence is writ large in the icy beauty, blissful harmonies and jarring stabs of feedback and pure noise on stunning album closer Dying.
But Dead Mellotron have a personality all of their own, weaving intricate, woozy daydreams that ebb and flow into each other for a blissful half-hour. There’s a jangly, very American post-punk approach to melody on Stranger – which would be almost pop if they didn’t restrict the vocals to wordless sighs that somehow speak volumes – that fans of Sugar will fall hopelessly and happily in love with, before it retreats into twinkling atmospherics to pave the way for the stark, new wave drums of Can’t See.
Glitter is a shining example of a clash of styles coming together in the most beautiful fashion.
