Westkust: "Swirl"

The opening track from Westkust‘s debut is not, in fact, the 1,500th shoegaze-y indie rock song to be named “Swirl”. You could understand the need to check the facts—this style of music loves itself some functional names, i.e., Lush, Curve, Ride, Slowdive, Whirr, Swervedriver, Glider, Hum, we could go on. And, yup, Westkust has co-ed vocals, somewhere in the neighborhood of a dozen fuzz pedals, you know the standard procedure. So there are two ways Westkust will likely introduce themselves here: either as a dutifully formal, reverent band, or one with the confidence to believe that a shoegaze-y indie rock song named “Swirl” can actually sound exciting in 2015.

Here’s a hint: the Swedish quintet shares two members with Makthaverskan, who similarly work within a familiar noise-pop construct, but feature Maja Milner, a charismatic vocalist who sings with the urgency of a 911-call. Milner is not in Westkust, but “Swirl” proves that Makthaverskan’s intensity is a communal thing. Both Gustav Anderson and Julia Bjernelind are going full-tilt here, belting clearly enunciated lyrics about waking up when the sun goes down and escaping cabin fever. Even the MBV-quoting coda goes beyond mere whammy bar abuse and brings in the pedal for more vertiginous, octave-shifting subversion. While most of their peers take the sound and sentiment of “Soft as Snow (But Warm Inside)” as guiding principles, Westkust are the rare group with real fire in their bellies.

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