Pinkshinyultrablast - Miserable Miracles

It still seems strange to me that the first band that ever got me into dream pop/shoegaze was Pinkshinyultrablast. This Russian collective of distorted sound junkies surreally encompass the development of modern dream pop. Two albums in with Everything Else Matters and Grandfeathered, they demonstrated early that the droning experimentation of shoegaze was not limited to just the United Kingdom and the States. All hailing from Saint Petersburg, their sound has gained some serious traction with the lucrative combo of electronic noise and 90’s dream pop. Arguably, each record better than the last, Grandfathered is what willingly put Pinkshinyultrablast on everyone’s radar. Especially, listening to “The Cherry Pit”, it is a cotton candy swirl of heavy reverb and Cocetau Twins-esque guitar harmonics. For many of the previous records, it was easy to get lost in the waved sound of it all, but on Miserable Miracles, it is more of caffeinated jolt of grandiose synth work with less emphasis on a whirlpool of sound.

This seems to be this band’s most confident work yet, just listen to the very first song on the record. “Dance AM” starts off with a boisterous alarm tone that eventually gives way to a swaddling blanket of keyboards and scattered drum machines. The first released single of this third project is also a stand out sounds like it is about to break into a monster 80’s anthem made for puffy hair and shoulder pad parties. Where it diverges from this nostalgic sound is the addition of Lyubov Soloveva, her aerial voice remains in flight throughout the record. Perhaps the most reflective piece on this third full length project is “Triangles,” channeling a Japanese anime listening aura, followed by a lucid bridge with a whirlpool of sound. Throughout the remainder of the album, however, some of it falls flat. With a couple of short instrumental tracks like “Earth and Elsewhere” and “blue Hour” many of the compositions are too hard to separate.

Admirably, I applaud the continuing progression of this electro noise band. They are unlike many out there and I truly believe that this album was a labor of love.  Unfortunately, at times, this record seems to feel scattered, unable to connect each constellation together.