San Francisco based 3-piece Balms started to make a name for themselves with their debut 6-track self-titled EP in 2015 that came onto the radar of many with a natural flair for playing a captivating blend of melodic shoegaze and dreampop.
An extensive American tour further improved their popularity for energic live performances, a short introductory single “Nothing in” had the light of the day at the end of 2016, and the debut album was planned for a 2017 release, but things did not align properly for the band since.
When hopes seemed to be missed, substantiated by the single members involved in other projects (Wolves Asleep, Gray Tolhurst and The Early Nineties and Chaka), here’s the unexpected new single “Plane”and the great news that the coveted debut LP, double vinyl and digital, “Mirror” will be released on February 1st, 2019, a concept album exploring the journey of confrontation between the Self and the “Shadow aspect of the Soul” as Carl G. Jung used to call it.
A surprising and cohesive array of different sounds from indie and dream pop to post rock, shoegaze, post-punk even grunge, “Plane” weaves together warm enveloping vibrations and emotional melodic hooks, brimming with energy and passion. Jangly and wistful guitar melodies backed by a solid and effective rhythm section set a somber and melacholic tone in unison with perplexed, seething, ethereal at times, vocals engulfed with fear and sorrow. Only at the end the voice shifts up in a grungey and yelling edge burning with anger as the drums clash and the guitar storms swirling around the raw edge before returning to calm confused ineptitude of indecision.
2 years in the making, the band never give up, they refined and broaden, adding new sonic nounces, their original sound, a labour of passion, love and emotions, it seems it was well worth the wait…
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