- After a string of encouraging singles, Brisbane post-punks Soviet X-Ray Record Club join similarly inspired Australian acts Nite Fields and Au.Ra in releasing their debut album Wake this year. I’ve been looking forward to this release for some time, and while the genre is starting to look a little crowded at the moment, the band themselves have always possessed a unique sound and aesthetic that I’ve found to be enjoyable. But they write a type of shoegaze-inspired post-punk that’s feeling pretty close to overplayed right now. Do they do enough to stand alone?

Intro track How You Looked From Underwater starts with screaming, atonal guitar and gothic piano, leading into the melodic post-punk of Never Enough, whose pleading, nasal vocals sound more like Editors or Interpol than any of the more traditional shoegaze or post-punk bands. However, it’s really 3rd track and earlier single Magnetic North where you start to get a feel for their sound, where a classic post-punk drum beat and bass line is complemented with retro sounding '80’s synths and subtlety overdriven guitar. Vocals aside, the sounds here are quite traditional, but they’re placed in this modern pop structure and driven along by a danceable 4/4 beat that makes the songs sound really catchy and fun to listen to. They have a similar vibe to London death rock band O. Children for their pastiche of dark, nostalgic musical references crafted into eminently danceable gothic rock. Also worth a special mention is track 5, Bones, by far the most lo-fi sounding song on the album, and also the most stylistically interesting: carving a dense, natural-sounding shoegaze out of little more than acoustic guitar, faint synth, and what sounds like live-recorded vocals.

Wake’s a little less stylistically pure than the latest release from Nite Fields and a little less shoegaze than Au.Ra, but a lot more fun than both. It’s a miracle the band hasn’t been signed to Felte yet, because any fans of particularly the Australian music already part of the label would adore them, and they’ve definitely brought something new to the table that’s complementary and comparable in quality, while also being totally distinct from other the artists on the roster. I wouldn’t say the album’s breaking any major ground, but then again, music doesn’t always have to. Sometimes it can just be beautiful, nostalgic, and everything that’s right about the world. Wake feels like that kind of album. If you’re into shoegaze, post-punk, or goth, Soviet X-Ray Record Club deserve your attention.

- Matthew Stoff.