Sciflyer are a husband and wife shoegazer duo who like to play the music just like the genre’s kings did back in the day.  What I find funny about this type of music is that people often reference just about any of the big names (My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Slowdive, Swervedriver, to name a few) when in reality there are many differences between them.  Ride sounded the most British and bombastic.  MBV were the most technically skilled in the studio, creating sounds far and beyond typical shoegaze.  Slowdive were the most beautiful, offering songs that you could sleep or cry to.  Swervedriver, well, were Swervedriver.  So which one of these giants does Sciflyer really sound like?  None of them.  This EP sounds decidedly “unfinished” compared to most of today’s shoegazer acts (even Sciflyer’s label mates, Silver Screen).  I don’t know if it’s the quality of the recording (which is horrendous, by the way) or whether I just don’t dig chugging, drawn out drones anymore, but this is not the resuscitation of the genre like some have been saying.  It just sounds too simple—the drumming is lackluster and the guitar really isn’t treated to any interesting effect besides the same one that is used throughout the whole EP (which is over thirty minutes, if that counts for anything).  If you ask me, bands like Jesu and The Double Leopards are the ones taking this whole shoegazer/drone thing into interesting new directions.  Especially Jesu.

-Andrew Iliadis

/march 2006/