Tuesday 12 November 2013

Caught Outside In The Grey Rain


Hot on the heels of the excellent The World Is Well Lost, the shoegaze gem from Tel Aviv legends Vaadat Charigim, comes another stellar Israeli band with a guitar-heavy, melody-laden elegance. Afor Gashum (Hebrew for grey rain) released the exultant album From The Inside at the beginning of the year, but it deserves some serious attention, not in the least from the emotive core of Michal Sapir's songs which share some of the opaque eloquence of likeminded outsiders Polvo. The marriage of fragility and grace with isolated space and the occasional crushing feedback blows is a tumultuous one, swinging from maudlin ('Likuy Yare'ach'), shoegaze malaise ('Adama Mugenet') and bludgeoning beauty ('Aeroplane') - and on 'Hypnotoxic', all three nestle together in deafening glory.

From The Inside is being re-released next week through UK label Land Speed Records - and visiting these shores couldn't come sooner for this guy, right here. It's a stunning album that came from left of field, buried itself into my olfactories, and refuses to let go. You can also read Sapir's excellent blog Loose Grains of Sonic Dust here.

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