Beaches
She Beats
(Chapter Music)

Aussie noise rockers Beaches aren’t out to be the next girl band. Instead, She Beats is a noisy, distorted, shoegaze wonder to do My Bloody Valentine proud. The vocals, often quiet and melodic while repeating key phrases, are usually buried behind the sound, offering a hypnotic effect.

“Keep on Breaking Through” has an ebb and build that brings to mind Mogwai, masters of the moody instrumental track. On “Distance,” the repetition of “faster faster, wanna go faster” is nearly hidden behind the guitar, making the lyrics almost seem like a subliminal message as the music churns rapidly on. Another highlight is “Granite Snake,” with its slinky bass intro that makes the title seem all too appropriate.

I enjoyed She Beats, but for me, it wasn’t groundbreaking. Each song is executed well, but there’s some level of heart wanting when it’s so difficult to make out the lyrics on most songs. Beaches certainly have a lot of potential and know how to put together an artful song, and I’ll be excited to see where they go in the future. Hopefully they won’t channel Kevin Shields for the wait time between records.