COLLAPSE - BLACK SHEEP IS STILL DREAMING (2022)

Although the Japanese COLLAPSE make music for almost a decade now, this year's BLACK SHEEP IS STILL DREAMING is their long playing debut. I posted about their EP three years ago and I still think it's one of the best shoegaze stuff that comes from Asia.

"Whispering voices shimmering sweetly in the overwhelming roaring sea" - this is how the band introduce themselves and I couldn't find a better description of their music. The roaring and particularly noisy guitars fight against the whispering vocals of Shoko. I know that combining the very noisy music with extremely soothing and delicate female vocals is something the Asian shoegaze is known for, but I feel like COLLAPSE do that even more. In GARDEN, the complex noise in the backgrounds is suppressed by the airiness of the vocals but there are moments the guitars are unleashed, ready to wreck havoc. But they are no match for what's happening in SYRUP. This is the flag track of the noisy side of the band. The melancholic vibes provided by Shoko are only strengthened in tracks where they are accompanied by violins or uber sweet sounds of glockenspiel as in BIRTHLIGHT. They band's sound is very versatile while all the time aiming for the heavy melancholia kind of atmosphere.

BLACK SHEEP IS STILL DREAMING costs 18 EUR (¥2,500).

Collapse - Endogenic Rebirthday (2019)

Check: SYRUP

Country: Japan

Genre: Asian shoegaze

Label: Only Feedback Records

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Collapse - Endogenic Rebirthday (2019) EN

Collapse are a Japanese shoegaze band from Tokyo. But in their music there's so much more as they showed already on two albums while still being relatively unknown in Europe. You can discover their music on their newest, very short but also super intensive EP called Endogenic Rebirthday.

The EP comprises tree short tracks but there's everything there: the airiness of shoegaze, the aggression of post-metal, uncanny noise and this brutal flow with Crystal Castles vibes. You listen to this music with a strange mixture of melancholy and higher pulse, in many places this reminds me of A Sunny Day in Glasgow but perhaps the Japanese experiment less and focus on melodies more.

This is what the first track, Ritual, surprises with: crushing with the first sounds, getting peaceful with time only to get back to the noisy self. The second track still emanates with aggressive, ear-mutilating sounds of guitars and drums but they are being soothed down by the tearful vocal by Shoko. This one sounds even better in the ballad-esque yet still noisy Oblivion. A beautiful EP.

Endogenic Rebirthday costs 7 USD.

Check: Ritual

Country: Japan

Genre: shoegaze metal

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Collapse - Endogenic Rebirthday (2019) PL

Collapse to japoński zespół shoegaze'owy z Tokio. Ale w jego muzyce kryje się dużo więcej, co pokazywali już na dwóch albumach długogrających, niemniej nie są specjalnie znani w Europie. Odkryć można ich na najnowszej, króciutkiej ale jakże intensywnej EP-ce Endogenic Rebirthday.

EP-ka to trzy krótkie kawałki, ale jest na nich i eteryczność shoegaze'u i post-metalowa agresja i niebywały hałas i ten niezwykły, brutalny flow spod znaku Crystal Castles. Słucha się więc go z mieszaniną nostalgii i podwyższonego tętna, w wielu miejscach przypomina mi A Sunny Day in Glasgow, tylko być może Japończycy mniej eksperymentują, a więcej poświęcają się melodyjności.

Tym właśnie zaskakuje pierwszy kawałek, Ritual, miażdżąc od pierwszego dźwięku po to by z czasem hałas uspokoić i znów do niego powrócić. Drugi utwór wciąż emanuje agresywnymi, bijacymi po uszach dźwiękami gitar i perkusji, ale łagodzi to rzewny wokal Shoko. Ten jeszcze lepiej brzmi w spokojnym, chociaż niepozbawionym przecież hałasu Oblivion. Piękna EP-ka.

Endogenic Rebirthday kosztuje 27 złotych (7 USD).

Sprawdź: Ritual

Kraj: Japonia

Szufladka: shoegaze metal

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