elsa henderson

(available from mysecretalphabet.com)

Hear those lush reverberated cacophonies coming out of Highland Park? That is Secret Alphabet, and this four-piece band drones and smashes its way through its latest offering, The Light, The Way. Reviews of the band liken them to Spacemen 3 and the Jesus and Mary Chain, and from the opener, “Dirty Magazine,” you can tell those influences will pave the way for what is in store for the rest of the album: fuzzy-distorted guitar riffs hovering over simple steady drumming and droning bass lines. The standout cuts for me were “By Design,” “Something in the Air,” “What’s Your Name?” and “27”—on these tracks, the melodies really expand and the guitars become more distinct, complementing the monochromatic landscape of the album. It is these tracks that keep the entire album from sinking into that ever nebulous shoegaze label. Yes, I absolutely love the forebearers of all things shoegaze and yes, I even love some of the latest reincarnations of the genre; however, many of these new bands fail to realize that some of the pivotal shoegaze albums of the 90s were merely snapshots of one phase in those bands’ musical progressions. These kids get it. The Light, The Way has the feel of band’s journey and exploration of a musical landscape, and hopefully progression.
—Gabriel Aguirre