Here at Backseat Mafia, we’ve been long time admirers of Scottish Post-Rock/Shoegazers Wozniak. The Edinburgh four piece have a new EP, titled Auster, out now via the bands bandcamp page, and its another step forward for the band.
Opening track Snow Effect marries this buzzsaw guitar line with another – echoey, almost tinny sounding one, playing arpeggiated notes. Driving it on is this menacing bass and drum line, while the sweet vocals over the top are a nice contrast. Its when it hits into the chorus and its preceding bridge that it shows Wozniak up at their best, heartbreakingly melodic and melancholy all at the same time.
Wings of Pegasus follows on, and its more straight forward pop music, still full of fuzz and echo and effects, but all at a brighter speed as it opens. The bassline slides around the mash of guitars, and soon the organ adds its weight, shimmering over the top of things in this rather lovely piece of instrumental post-rock. It whips itself up into a fury of sound towards the end, the guitars/organ swirling into an epic finish.
You can tell, right from the off of Gospel of Infinity that there is more tension, more anxiety about the song. It builds to a defening crescendo of feedback and distortion, with everybody contributing something to the mix, from the drums marking the changes with fills, to the guitars and basses who all play snatches of melody as the whole thing ebbs and flows and slowly dies away.
The EP closes with Hestor + Zelda, which slowly unfurls throughout it’s 8 minute plus lifespan. The guitars and bass once again add their own little melodic snatches, while the almost unsettling drumming means it grips you and doesn’t let go. Come the middle and it pauses, still and stagnant before moving off again with renewed vigour.
Auster is a trip through the ebb and flow and give and take of largely instrumental shoegaze/post-rock, and its very, very good indeed.
https://www.facebook.com/wozniakofficial
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