THE SHALLOWS
Nostalgia Ain’t What It Used To Be

Independent

Comprised of students studying at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, local indie 11-piece The Shallows treat themselves as a collective, and, as such, each individual brings a different musical taste and style to recently released debut EP Nostalgia Ain’t What It Used To Be.

Blending the sensitivity of classical instrumentation and the sensibility of rock into something far greater than post-rock, this mixed bag of treats and curios works its magic over a suite of five tracks, encouraging listeners to happily sit mesmerized for 27 minutes of glimmering sonic twilight and translucently tingling ambi-organic pearly-dewdrops droppery.

While frontman Adam Tatana’s throaty Robert Plant-meets-Jack White (with a little John Lennon sprinkled in for good measure) vocals may take some getting used to for more discerning listeners, the beauteous wash of sonically cinematic sound is immediately engaging, making for a dystopian aural experience with is both blissfully narcotic and nightmarishly grounding.

A brilliantly varied first effort, this wonderfully complex EP warrants multiple listens, with each press of the repeat button unveiling a new noise hidden beneath the multitude of finely crafted layers making up each of the individual five tracks.

_JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD