The Lebanese dreampop trio, Postcards, comprised of Julia Sabra (guitar, keys, vocals), Marwan Tohme (guitar, back vocals) and Pascal Semerdjian (drums, back vocals) slowly approach their upcoming third album, “After the Fire, Before the End”, scheduled to be released this Fall via Berlin-based label T3 Records, with the new single “Bruises”.
Straddling seamlessly the hazy contemplative realms of dreampop and the reverberant fuzzy distortion of shoegaze, whilst striking a heady balance between edgy and vulnerable, organic and refined, the 3-piece based in Beirut explore this time unusual winding keyboard-laden sonic territories with the guitar relegated in a subdued role, by letting the bewitching and ethereal Julia‘s vocals shine throughout.
Hypnotic and repetitive lilting drum beats along with deep incessantly pulsing bassline and restrained jerky guitar strains, underpin airy bright sweeps of reedy Farfisa-ish organ sound that flow, whirl, chug, and swell with deep achingly enveloping wistfulness, sparsely stabbed by soaring, urgent and dazzling riffs of blaring dramatic energy, while sad, fearful female vocals float in quivering angst and breathless melancholy to expel ancient demons from the subconscious past.
An immersive, bittersweet and heart-rending elegy, “Bruises” broods in the unhealed ‘bruises’ of childhood trauma, to unfold through mesmeric rhythms, and sparkly, vaporous and intense keyboard harmonies, amidst emotional painful catharsis and dim glimmers of renewed hope, relentlessly drifting towards a softly obscure horizon, giving us vivid and heartfelt emotions.
Postcards‘ third LP “After the Fire, Before the End” is due Fall 2021 via Berlin-based label T3 Records.
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photo by Rachel Tabet
