Beyond Sea and Sky reviews
Fri 02 Feb '07 by Scott
While we’re waiting for our new ‘reviews’ section to be added to the site, we’ve gathered up some people’s opinions on ‘Beyond Sea and Sky’. Happy reading…
www.tastyfanzine.org.uk
An on-off existence over the last 16 years or so has eventually been galvanised into a new flurry of energy and activity from arch shoe gazers Secret Shine and ‘Beyond Sea and Sky’ marks a resounding return to form.
Immense swirling soundscapes that reek of the nostalgia of Slowdive but bristle with the undoubted influence of contemporaries Sigur Ros and Mogwai provide the orchestral backdrop to the mesmerising ethereal boy-girl vocal harmonies. Irrepressibly gorgeous.
SB
www.amplifiermagazine.com
Armed with the ethereal mystery of the Cocteau Twins and the crunchy guitars of Lush, Secret Shine’s songs come in striking musical layers. A limited edition EP (only 500 have been pressed), Beyond Sea and Sky is a tasty stopgap between albums for this U.K outfit. “Lost Memory” is a blissful surge of gorgeous harmonies soaked with fuzzy and meandering guitar grooves; “Hit The Ground” may be an exercise in orchestral feedback, but amidst all of the musical chaos, the voices of Kathryn Smith and guitarist Dean Purnell conflate in a stirring and melodic blend of shoegazing bliss. The five-minute closer “Beyond Sea And Sky” is awash in stunning distortion and it finds Smith at her most existential, asking, “Now what’s left to say?” From the sound of this, my guess is a whole lot more.
Alex Green
lostmusic.co.uk
I first came across Secret Shine early last year. At the time I was suitably impressed with their ‘Elemental EP’ to post a rave review on this site. Digging around after hearing that EP I was surprised to discover that the band were veterans of the early 90s indie/shoegaze scene.
I got this EP to review a few weeks back – and it’s finally made it to the top of the pile. Lucky me.Lucky me indeed. ‘Beyond Sea And Sky’ is a gorgeous little EP. Three songs brimming with distortion and dreamy guitars. It’s a little like My Bloody Valentine never disappeared, especially on ‘Hit The Ground’ which is one of the best new shoegaze songs I have heard in some considerable time. It really is that good. The other two songs on the EP are just as strong – and I dare anyone with a shoegaze bone in their body to be disappointed by these songs.
After discovering the band last year I was really happy that I got to see the band live last year. They didn’t disappont. This EP continues the trend of Secret Shine hitting the high marks. This is a first class EP – that is essential listening for fans of shoegaze rock n roll.
Head over to Secret Shine website to purchase a copy of this limited EP. The band have a brand new LP due out this year and I, for one, can not wait to hear it.
www.retrolowfi.com
If Secret Shine is a band, it’s by sheer force of will. While they have over fifteen years worth of history under their belts, they’ve performed less than one hundred live concerts – many of which were admittedly awful, if you believe the band’s offical bio – and the number of band members has fluctuated somewhere between four and six people at various stages. They don’t think very highly of their earliest releases on the legendary Sarah Records label, and in the past their rehearsals have been little more than an excuse to talk about popular British soap operas. The fact that I’m even listening to a new EP under the Secret Shine brand name is pretty amazing, all things considered.
Hot off the heels of their brilliant Elemental EP comes Beyond Sea And Sky, which all but abandons their occasional pop leanings for a sound firmly planted between Autolux and My Bloody Valentine. Now, when you mention MBV in a review, people automatically assume you’re saying that the guitars do that weird swirly thing found all over Loveless, but the influence here is actually more apparent in the vocals. You know how some shoegazer bands turn up all the treble on their vocals and push them just far enough into the red to distort? Yeah, that’s what I mean.
Where you once found twinkly, twilighty and ever-so-slightly-out-of-tune pop, you’ll now found swelling pianos, droning tempos and luscious boy/girl harmonies guaranteed to fit perfectly on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
According to their official website, Secret Shine are back for good, with no more on-again-off-again meanderings. That’s an exciting announcement, considering how much they’ve grown and matured in just the last year and a half since they’ve returned. Here’s to hoping that their upcoming full-length delivers on the promise of this EP.
Pick up your own copy of Beyond Sea And Sky at Secret Shine’s offical website
www.opuszine.com
It’s been something like ten years since Secret Shine released any new material (much of the band’s Sarah Records catalogue was re-released in 2004 on Clairecords), and it’s almost as if the band has been stuck in a timewarp. The press release may mention the likes of Mogwai and Sigur Rós, but make no mistake, this is straight up old school shoegazer circa 1993. If Kathryn Smith’s wispy vocals on “Lost Memory” don’t cause the Lush memories to come rushing back, then you have much better ears than I, my friend.
As with most shoegazer types, the lyrics are not necessarily strong—there’s plenty of mention of lost memories, wistfulness, existential regret, and pining away for some lost someone or somewhere—but that’s fine, because it’s all about the sound. And Secret Shine envelopes the listener in approximately 700 layers of sounds throughout the course of Beyond Sea And Sky‘s three songs.
This is especially true on the aforementioned “Lost Memory”—gossamery filaments of guitar glint and shimmer above a bassline that acts like a glacier, slowly but inexorably moving the song in all manner of heartbreaking motion. And the “oomph” is all the more apparent when heard on headphones. I suppose I should criticize the band for being less adventurous than they might be after a ten-year hiatus, but the title track’s sparse piano lines and layers of Robin Guthrie-esque shimmering do a good job of convincing me to just go with the retro flow.
If there’s one complaint about Beyond Sea And Sky, it’s that the sound mix often seems a little off-balanced and on the muddy side. Of course, one of the central tenets of shoegaze is that you’re required to bury the vocals under layers of guitar, rendering them gauzy and amorphous. But in the EP’s case, the vocals of Smith, Jamie Gingell, and Dean Purnell seem muffled more than anything else. Given the fact that all of them have voices that are more content with sighing than coming off as more forceful, they get a bit more unfairly mussed up than they might otherwise.
The EP is only three tracks long, so chances are, it’s more for dedicated fans that have been waiting with bated breath for the band’s return. A new full-length album is in the works, due out sometime in the summer of 2007. As such, I prefer to think of this EP as more like a demo than anything else. It’s rough around the edges, a little unbalanced to be sure, and maybe still working out the kinks after all these years, but still full of lovely textures in which to lose yourself.
Beyond Sea And Sky is being released on Tonevendor. More info, including sound samples, can be found at Secret Shine’s official website and their MySpace page.
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