Seattle-based Waves Crashing deliver a gripping rock sound across their debut album, Effection. Shoegaze-y guitar layers and dynamic vocals — spanning from lushly contemplative to anthemic vigor — propel a consistently melodic sound. Waves Crashing has caught our ears with multiple EPs in the past — high/low and The Viewing — and Effection continues to showcase the band as amongst the best emerging acts in the realms of shoegaze and dreamy rock.
Following an enveloping prelude that swells from spacey intrigue into thumping hard-rocking fervency, “Comatose” brings forth a sound with a textured, nostalgic charm. The whirring guitar tones exude a hazy quality fondly reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine, while the vocals’ ascent from subdued immersion into the “I feel it close,” soaring reminds of Spiritualized crossed with the vocal warmness of The Stone Roses. The punctuating “in a comatose,” refrain concludes with enjoyably numbing enthrallment, mesmerizing in its steady bass pulse and nodding guitar textures.
A synth-y post-punk inclination compels on the ensuing “Parts of Me,” showing shades of New Order as jangling guitars ease in cohesively. The brisker “Treading Water” is another standout, moving with a peppy bounciness amidst lyrical ruminations on “living like a man-child,” and the resulting sense of “treading water,” in one place. The heavier guitar roars emit a lovably dramatic quality, then shifting cohesively into the jangling verses. Waves Crashing have crafted one of the year’s strongest rock releases thus far in Effection, which excels in its range from serene contemplation to rousing rock ferocity.
