Blushing ‘Sugarcoat’ Review: Austin quartet channels classic shoegaze and alt-rock through a modern prism on third album. 

★★★★

Something interesting happens when American bands gain inspiration from British shoegaze. Groups like Garbage, The Veldt, True Widow, Deafheaven, and The Smashing Pumpkins borrow elements from My Bloody Valentine, Curve, Slowdive, Ride, et al, but with an American sensibility, crafting more direct, heavier and less abstract material while keeping the genres atmospheric trappings intact.

On their third album Sugarcoat (May 3, Kanine Records), the Austin TX quartet Blushing also draw upon  the best elements of l classic 90’s shoe gaze while never sounding dated.

The band, comprised of dual married couples Christina (bass/vocals) & Noe Carmona (guitars) and Michelle(guitars/vocals) & Jacob Soto (drums), blend those influences with a multitude of other subgenres to sublime effect.

Tamagotchi is a case in point, with church-bell guitars and cooing vocals that reflects the genteel dream-pop jangle of acts like Lush (fittingly they were co-signed by Lush’s Miki Berenyi) and The Sundays, but fueled by a pounding rock beat and urgent delivery.

Seafoam starts off with simmering fuzz (courtesy of ex-Pumpkins guitarist Jeff Schroeder) before veering into goth, with both textures eventually intertwining, the ethereal vocals hanging over the song like a hallucinogenic haze.

Slyce fuses Madchester style drums and a blend of tremolo and fuzz guitar with cooing vocals, resulting in a beatific aggressive earworm, while both Silver Teeth and Fizz employ warped, spiraling guitar textures that sounds like a more aggressive take My Bloody Valentine.

The title track is another vibrant rocker, with a knotted bassline burrowing through the song’s dense arrangement, with soothing vocals bouncing across the mix of siren guitar wails and cavernous drums.

Pull You In Two employs quiet/loud dynamics to winning effect, while Charms envelopes the listener with sugary sonics, in stark contrast to its bittersweet lyrics: All the fables you were told / Can’t provide the words / To keep her in your hold / Probably should give up / I’ve seen it all before, it’s all the same.

Blushing save the best for last with the melancholic Debt, utilizing a labyrinthine, compositional structure that eventually erupts into an upbeat chorus.

Sugarcoat is an album that should appeal to modern indie kids and Gen Xers alike (speaking of the latter, The Smashing Pumpkins recently picked the band as tour support).

It also shows how Blushing can wear their influences on their sleeve yet still transcend them. They cast a bewitching shoegazey spell all their own.