Caught in the Carousel

Ringo Deathstarr

Colour Trip
Sonic Unyon Records

Ringo Deathstarr

2011's band name trend seems to be ironic play-on-words involving celebrity names. A scan of music blogs will pull up band names like Joy Orbison, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr, and Dananananaykroyd that all showcase this curious trend in action. On the surface, this name gimmick may seem like an amusing distraction from potentially uninteresting music. In the case of Austin, Texas-based Ringo Deathstarr, however, this is not the case. The Beatle reference in their band name shouldn't turn people away from their new record Colour Trip, which is an honest homage to the shape of shoegaze music in the early 1990s.

During the roughly half-hour long Colour Trip, Ringo Deathstarr shows how well they have studied at the school of Kevin Shields with track after track of captivating retro shoegaze. Blazing and buzzing opener "Imagine Hearts" starts Colour Trip off with many layers of disorienting guitar work and hauntingly high vocals from female vocalist Alex Gehring. One of the albums most successful nods to shoegaze's aural construction is Ringo Deathstarr's representation of two popular styles of singing in the genre. On songs like "Day Dreamy," male vocalist Elliott Frazier takes on a more androgynous singing style that populated the works of bands like Lush. On songs like "Weekend Dudes," however, Frazier can be seen taking a lower, droll tone more along the lines of the vocal work made famous by Jesus and Mary Chain. Alongside the blending of these two singing styles, the rest of Colour Trip captures many tones of the chaotic and whirring world of classic shoegaze. "Chloe" is an upbeat and fuzzy acoustic playful pop number that's buzzing guitar work gives off an intoxicated and giddy summer feel. Other tracks, like, "Tambourine Girl" are more sludgy and dark. One common trait about all the songs is that the layers upon layers of guitars soar highest at loud volumes and in close contact.

Colour Trip is headphone candy at its best. There are so many places on the record that become full blown, cinematic shoegaze when the headphones are on and the volume is up. During "So High," a looped, scaling guitar riff travels through mists of Frazier's whispered vocals, repeating "she was just a tear drop/I was just a waste of time." "Do It Every Time" assaults the ears with waves of noise until the listener's headphones are completely filled to the brim with booming guitar effects. Ringo Deathstarr seem to have designed Colour Trip to be a headphone trip, with how big and dynamic these songs sound when placed right into the listener's ear. The only drawback how headphone-ready the record is comes with how it all kind of blends together when it is not up close and personal with the listener. Playing Colour Trip through computer speakers or a car stereo can dilute the scope of sounds that can be picked up on the record. In this scenario, the more intricate guitar effects just become clouds of noise which the vocal hooks merely peek through.

Colour Trip is a loud, lovely allusion to '90s shoegaze. The songs are like comets burning through Earth's atmosphere as they start out loud and chaotic and fracture into little pieces of noise. Ringo Deathstarr's shoegaze is the kind that recognizes its predecessors without becoming a covers record. Though heavily influenced by artists like Ride and Lush, the songs on Colour Trip still sound like something that came straight from the brains of the band members. Despite their goofy name, Ringo Deathstarr has created a swirling shoegaze album with Colour Trip that's perfect for someone looking to escape into a headphone fog of noise.

—John Venanzi