Slow Crush have upped the ethereal feel on Thirst.
There aren’t the immediate, outstanding hits on here that made Aurora a collection of classic modern shoegaze. Moreover, this album works as a whole, creating the entirety of the dream, rather than the snippets you hold onto once you wake up.
There are some surprises here – the saxophone on Covet is a genuine left-field move for a shoegaze band, but it contributes to the surreal, dreamlike feel rather than distracting from it.
That’s not to say that the entire album is a breathy sigh; there are plenty of modern shoegaze hooks to draw you in. The Deftones-esque guitar on Cherry is more than enough to satiate the appetite of those drawn to this album from the more grungy/nu-metal side of the shoegaze spectrum.
The album ebbs and flows with louder and softer songs, but rather than being a juxtaposition, they are more like gentle waves on a summer’s beach. Occasionally, this happens within the same song – the intro to Leap could come straight from Wisp at their most whispered, while the chorus sounds like Amira Elfeky, if she chose to add reverb to her microphone.
Hollow follows the tide back out, as frontwoman Isa Holliday inhales and exhales over windchimes and soft, synthy loops. The reverb and chorus techniques ensure that this doesn’t deviate from the sound of a genre primarily achieved through guitars, bass, and a sprawling collection of effects pedals.
Haven follows the example of Cherry, but isn’t quite as memorable. The guitars and bass are sprawling yet heavy, but it feels like this gets slightly lost in the mix and becomes just another brick in the dreamlike wall. On the flipside, if any song comes close to summing up the overall Slow Crush sound in 2025, this is it.
Conversely, While You Dream Vividly starts with a slow piano progression before unleashing a wall of guitars. It then slows down into a similar synthy croon to Hollow. This description makes it sound like it’s three songs thrown into one – and in a way it is – but it isn’t anywhere near as disjointed as that. It’s a perfect mix of modern shoegaze, and again shows that Slow Crush are willing to experiment to take shoegaze forward.
Bloodmoon – guitarists Jelle Ronsmans and Nic Placklé alter the effects to great effect on the album closer proper. There’s shimmering, twinkling, and Everest-sized walls of sound. A fitting denouement to a solid album of shoegaze.
However, that’s not quite it! There’s another interlude, ógilt, which is littered with twinkling synths and guitars, and samples from analog machinery (answer phones, tape decks, white noise), evoking a liminal feeling of foreboding nostalgia. This both roots the album to the genre’s ’90s origins and adds a bit of dread to the dreamscape. It’s evocative and effective.
Final track Hlýtt maintains the analog sounds, but loops Holliday’s whispered croon over the top. As the guitars make a return, it’s effectively the sound of two worlds coming together – the dreaming and the waking. A fitting reminder that every dream must come to an end. If you remember it, and it’s changed you, then you know it meant something.
In this case, you might not remember everything about this album, but the most evocative parts will change how you think about shoegaze. Very much an album that’s more than the sum of its parts.
7/10
Standout Tracks: Cherry, Leap While You Dream Vividly
For Fans Of: Julie, Fleshwater, Superheaven
Written by: Tom Forrester
