Another reissue as part of the Captured Tracks Shoegaze Archives here. Deardarkhead are a New Jersey trio formed in 1988, a self-confessed group of anglophiles, they took the brooding sounds of 1980s 4AD, The Cure and My Bloody Valentine and took them back home with them to Atlantic City. Oceanside is a collection of their work from 1991-93, perhaps considered the band's peak.
The English influence is apparent from the off, the heavy guitar thrashes of opener ‘Fish’ taking on a visceral tone more commonly associated with post-punk than perhaps shoegaze. The bass is prominent and pulsating as the drums pound and the guitars twist and thrash in the background. The vocals - unusual for a supposed shoegaze record - are very clear and free from the usual drenching of reverb, making the vocals more direct, brutal and elementary; ultimately less shoegaze and more akin to the likes of Echo & the Bunnymen.
There is a thicker, more industrial approach to this record than the tag may suggest – the relentlessly chugging guitars and whipping drums on ‘One of a Kind’ approach punk or indie-rock, bringing to mind Vs-era Mission of Burma. However, this is often countered by the album's more poppy moments that wash over you in a sea of Cure-like arpeggio guitar licks, such as ‘Lighthouse’. This also sees the vocals come closer to toying with melody and variation bordering on Morrissey – a change from the direct, often baritone delivery of previous songs.
The aptly titled ‘Crystallize’ and ‘Oceanside’ are arguably the album's most shoegaze moments. The relentless guitar hook that floats through the core of ‘Crystallize’ plays on some of the delightful repetitions from Loveless, whereas ‘Oceanside’ is perhaps the closest template match due to the balance between the guitar fuzz and the hazy vocals on show. But all the while, even at their most jingly jangly, there is still a vicious undercurrent the bubbles beneath the songs. The balance between the hazy, murky numbers and the more frantic, crunching guitar tracks is a pleasant one, for anybody who caught Weekend’s debut album Sports, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to learn they were a fan of deardarkhead.
The album's dying moments on tracks such as 'June 28th' and 'Strobelight' prove to perhaps be the most interesting, more of a leaning towards instrumentation, texture and tones than song structure. Often the band sound tightest, and strangely fullest, when they are exploring sounds without vocals. They succeed in creating an ambience and atmosphere that has the ability to transport and almost hypnotise. Perhaps the band realised this, as they now perform as an instrumental group today.
There are many bands who toil in the same territory as deardarkhead and there are many who have been down that path earlier and left longer lasting footprints, but there are also a great number of bands whose name and stature outweigh that of deardarkhead’s somewhat unfairly. This collection of songs from a two-year period displays a band who may still be indebted to their musical influences somewhat, but are also carving out their own sonic voice which - while on occasion can struggle to be heard above its immediate and apparent influence - is a wonderful, sweeping amalgamation of fuzzed up guitar pop, subtle post-punk undercurrents and simplistic yet resonating vocals. ‘Rollercoaster’ a perfect embodiment of this, so rudimentary in form and melody, but an utterly irresistible piece of pop music.