deary – Birding – Album Review
by Killian Laher

This year’s ‘dreampop’ find is probably going to be English band deary.  Releasing a debut album on Simon Raymonde’s Bella Union label, it’s very nice stuff indeed.  Dottie Cockrell’s high-pitched vocal introduces Smile and then a lovely, full-sounding bed of guitars and drums kicks into a wall of sound, akin to Slowdive crossed with Mogwai.  And that’s just on the first track!  Seabird is, dare I say it, almost poppy.  It would remind you of the more catchy side of Lush, while still basing itself on some enormous guitars which explode into life halfway through the song.

If it’s swirly and spacey you want, Gypsophilia, a sort of interlude, will do that for you, and following that, Blue Ribbon strays into the kind of jangly territory inhabited by Newdad.  There’s plenty of variety here with the brief, dippy strum Garden of Eden, great big major key anthem Alma, and the blushingly blissful pop of No Sweeter Feeling.  Towards the end, the moody Terra Fable is a highlight, guitars you could sink into and drift away on, while the penultimate track Alfie, soars long and high for seven and a half minutes with a wall of Slowdive-style guitars as the band stretches out.

A very impressive debut.  Yes, it’s very ‘floaty’ and ‘dreamy’, but it’s a good collection of songs, performed very well.

Seabird