Search - Bethany Curve :: Skies A Crossed Sky

Sweet whirlpool of delicious chewy noise!

obliv | edge city | 06/29/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"having been in a shoegazing mood lately, i found myself surfing the web for some purveyours of that pedal drenched noise that seems to quench a very thirsty part of my soul. i had run through my catalogue of usual suspects..MBV, slowdive, JAMC, and my personal faborite, ride. i wouldnt say i got tired of them, more like they made me hungry for new stuff, just to see if the torch had indeed been passed.



i was aware of some of the next generation of shoegazers...nu-gazers, if you will (although lets hope our scene never produces a fredo like fred durst...hence, my fear of "nu" anything...) starflyer59 are a good example of really old school sounding dream pop. i really like autolux as well, and while i dont necessarily think he's a direct descendant of the shoegaze line, ulrich schnauss has kind of grown ion me. my wife played his record as we went to sleep pretty mucn nonstop for a couple months. anyway, i felt the need to dig deeper, and stumbled across bethany curve. i checked out a song on itunes, then another, and before you know it, i had downloaded their entire catalogue.



if you ever had a sweetspot for shoegazing, this is a must have band in your collection. solid pop numbers sit alongside dreamy atmospherics, and the result is a lulling, almost trancelike seductionand it is this swirl of sound, fast and propulsive followed by longer, more ambient numbers, then another poppier bit just to snap you from your trance.



the dreamier numbers use layer of effects and washes of sound over lush vocals buried deep in the mix. the pop numbers use chiming guitar chords as the solid center for catchy melodies and propulsive baggy beats, then they swaddle that in the same cottony, billowing layers, and voila...you have a perfect dream pop concoction.



the band they immediately reminded me of was kitchens of distinction, or maybe curve (which, given the name of the band, i have ton think is no accident). i think their melodies are stronger than either of those two, if you were to take simply \ the chord progression and hooks, and remove the approach , the melodies recall a lot of early emo, a la, saves the day or jets to brazil. again, that is only in the notes on the page or played on the instrument. they both share the taste for minor key dirge-y hooks. that similarity stops there, however...no need for any punk aggression or soaring vocal lines. bethany curve are content to set the bait, drp the line and sit and wait for the listener. once theyve got you, though, theyve got you!



as i said, i downloaded their entire catalogue, and have had it playing on repeat for a few nights now, i decided to give the records the attention they deserved and listen to them in order. this, being the first, has obviously had the longest to soak in, and it does its best to set the bar very high for the rest of the band's output. having sampled the catalogue before taking a serious bite, there is no apparent dropoff in the quality of the bands output. i am really looking forward to exploring the worlds of dreamy sound inside these lusciously dense songs.



i withhold that 5th star simply b/c i believe they can make an even greater record."

This is the best in spacerock

Ruetter | London, GB | 09/06/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I just got this CD. Super soaring guitars and amazing songs. Highly recommended."

5 stars!

Ruetter | London, GB | 09/06/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you are a fan of swallow, MBV, and Lush, you'll love this CD."