Pinkshinyultrablast - Grandfeathered

Following the success of their first album Everything Else Matters, Russian five-piece Pinkshinyultrablast are now gracing listeners with their second offering, Grandfeathered.

As always, Pinkyshinyultrablast are finding a middle ground between genres, combing their unique shoegaze with pop sensibilities and heavy guitars. This coming together of genres results in a bizarre listening experience, but it’s exactly this peculiar lack of clarity that makes Grandfeathered that little bit more special.

With opening track ‘Initial’ the album seems set for ethereal ambience, bordering on math-rock yet within seconds of ‘Glow Vastly’ we’re hit with the guitars – guitars that continue to rear their heads through the album. It’s a bright move from the band, sure, dreaminess is no bad thing but what’s to say it couldn't use a kick into overdrive occasionally? Pinkyshinyultrablast may be fiddling with genres, but they’re doing so in a way that can’t be faulted.

In ‘Kiddy Pool Dreams’ the band’s most recently released track, Pinkshinyultrablast are at their most "thunderpop". There’s something so refreshing about a band being able to give ambience a thundery kick without completely overpowering it, yet with simple tweaks Pinkshinyultrablast give their album a real injection of excitement without allowing it to stray completely off course.

Throughout the album, roaring drums and heavy guitars are dragged back down to earth, or perhaps more fittingly back up in to space, by swirling synths and gorgeously delicate vocals. For me, Grandfeathered is pretty much perfect. I feel that shoegaze and other such genres tend to drift a little, and though the album does appear somewhat blurred at times, Pinkshinyultrablast pin it down almost instantly. I’d be a fool to suggest that Grandfeathered is anything short of fantastic.

Grandfeathered is available via Amazon & iTunes.