REVIEW: WL - Hold

WL (they pronounce it "Well") is a Portland guitar rock band featuring singer & bassist Misty Mary, guitarist Michael Yun, and drummer Stevie Sparks. They hail from different parts of the country, but met in Portland and after releasing an EP of home recordings, have put together an impressive full-length album, Hold. They call this stuff shoegaze, they call it dream pop - you get the picture. It's got a really full, enveloping sound you can get lost in. Mary's bass and Sparks' drums set the scene with a deep rumble, Yun's guitars absolutely soar, and then her vocals carry you away. It's music you can enjoy by listening, but you are gonna want to feel it.

Here's "Sugar Pill" - my favorite track on the record - a swirling, hypnotic track featuring Mary's ethereal vocals over shoegaze guitars and heavy rhythms:



Here's "You're Not Really Here". It slows down the pace, until it almost imperceptibly fades out at the end:



You can download "You're Not Really Here" - click here.

And here's a video they made in the woods of Portland - the song's not on this album, but I think it's appropriate for the occasion because you can easily see what a good drummer Sparks is... sometimes when you're listening to stuff like this, the waves of guitars and vocals just sort of wash over you and it's easy to kind of take the drummer for granted. But Sparks sets a very good pace:

The album is out now (July 16) and available via Bandcamp (click through the songs above). It's on Prospect & Refuge.

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