DEAFCULTAuras

Call it what you will—rock, dream-pop, noise, indie—shoegaze has always, more than anything, hinged on one crucial aspect: feeling. On their 2015 debut self-titled EP, Brisbane loudness collective DEAFCULT grasped this concept better than most. Sure, with six members, four (yes, four) guitarists and labyrinthian vocal layering, it can almost feel like the band take a blunt-force approach to their instrumentation, yet there were enough rays of sunshine poking out from amongst the haze of fuzz and distortion to keep things immensely entertaining and emotionally liberating.

Auras guides the listener through twelve haunting and hallucinatory tracks, with lofty melodies and super-massive fuzzed-out riffs that will reverberate through your skull cavity.

On Auras—their much-anticipated, full-length album—the sextet ease into the album format with noticeable restraint, and it’s this awareness of the limiting factors of ‘loud-for-the-sake-of-being-loud’ dynamics that make Auras feel like a god-damn revelation. Ostensibly a record about dreams, Auras guides the listener through twelve haunting and hallucinatory tracks, with lofty melodies and super-massive fuzzed-out riffs that will reverberate through your skull cavity. On tracks like Summertime and Stars Collide, the through-line of influence from landmark records like Loveless and Souvlaki is an obvious one, while the reverb-heavy moments of Secret Wisdom and Sparkle deliver a knockout not unlike an iron fist wrapped in a velvet glove. But it’s the record’s second half which truly shines. Rubix powers through three minutes of bulldozer riffs, carried along swiftly by the vocal interplay between guitarists Innez Tulloch and Stevie Scott. The transition to break-beats and warbling synths on Echoes then serves to prep the listener for album standout, Judy: an absolutely monolithic track, with crashing walls of guitar, a subtle synth undercurrent and rich, melancholic lead work that will weave its way into your brain like a fleeting instant of drunken reverie.

You would think, in a year that saw shoegaze luminaries Slowdive return to the fold with their first album in 22 years, that it would be near-impossible to craft not just the best shoegaze album of the year, but a contender for album of the year. And you’d also be mistaken. Auras is powerful, evocative and meticulously crafted; a confident record that will easily raise DEAFCULT to near-mythic status in the shoegaze community.

STICK THIS NEXT TO: Nothing, Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine
STANDOUT TRACKS: Judy, Rubix, Stars Collide, Summertime

Auras is available June 30th through Hobbledehoy Records. DEAFCULT are touring nationally this July/August and select tour dates can be found below:

DEAFCULT – Auras Album Tour July / August 2017
(Tickets on the door for all shows)

SATURDAY JULY 15 – Crown and Anchor, Adelaide w. Horror My Friend, Blush Response and Pony Tail Kink
SUNDAY JULY 16 – John Curtin, Melbourne w. White Walls, Lowtide and TV Haze – tickets from johncurtinhotel.com
FRIDAY JULY 21 – The Brightside, Brisbane w. Pleasure Symbols, Ultra Material, Spirit Bunny, and Tall Pines DJs
FRIDAY AUGUST 4 – Red Rattler, Sydney w. Sounds Like Sunset, Skullsquadron and Egoism
SATURDAY AUGUST 5 – The Hamilton Hotel, Newcastle w. Safe Hands, Jen Buxton & The Slaughterhouse Five, Obat Batuk, and Post Truth