Beverly on The Moon

My first exposure to Beverly led me to believe they were a shoegaze band, as the "single" South Collins is a classic slice of shoegazyness with a great tune hidden within, but shoegaze has rarely been able to sustain my interest for a whole LP.

So when The Blue Swell album was released in early May, it did take me a while to check out and the first track conformed to my expectations, but it turns out to be my least favourite. Track two, Crooked Cop, was a revelation, bringing to mind Tanya Donelly of Throwing Muses, The Breeders and Belly fame, singing one of Teenage Fanclub's finest Bigstar inspired tunes.  The next track You Said It is like Ms Donnelly taking the lead on one of The Breeders finest and most poptastic moments. 

The more shoegazey tracks have grown on me, especially with the help of Google to figure out the lyrics. It is a very fine album, with varied and wonderful vocals and some great guitar sounds.

It is the second Beverly album, they were originally a duo consisting of Frankie Rose of the Crystal Stilts, Vivian Girls and Dum Dum Girls and Drew Citron a former member of Avan Lava and drummer for Frankie Rose's solo backing band. They teamed up for a jam session that became an outlet for Citron's songs, but for this album she has very successfully branched out on her own with backing from other Frankie Rose band members.

Check it out via Bandcamp below and in all the other usual places.