It's Lunar New Year which means I'm missing Hong Kong. I lived there for nearly three years, and I still feel like I barely scratched the surface of all that the city has to offer. in recent years, a bunch of shoegaze bands have sprung up there. Of these, Lucid Express are the latest to offer music on these shores, with this group's record coming out on the fine Kanine Records imprint this week.
Instant Comfort, mixed by Kurt Feldman of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, hits the sweet spots right away. The Slowdive-y "Promise Me" kicks things off with a stew of cooed vocals, feedback, and layered guitars. It's excellent. On "Take Heart", the group conjures up a sound like Spooky-era Lush, with vocalist Kim Ho carrying this one forward with a neat mix of confidence and sweetness. The mid-tempo chaos of "Something Blue" takes things further into classic shoegaze styles, with the guitars and noise of the track revealing moments of stillness and chaos. It's very much in the mold of early Chapterhouse, peak MBV, or Nowhere-era Ride.
Instant Comfort is sure to please shoegaze fans. Lucid Express do everything right, and there's nothing here that's less than perfect. When I think of the records I held close to my heart 35 years ago, the majority sounded just like what's on this record. For a genre that took a breather for a bit, shoegaze seems more popular now than it did in 1991. And that's largely due to bands like Lucid Express understanding exactly how to make great music in the style, and pouring their hearts into the creation of tunes like these.
Instant Comfort by Lucid Express is out on Friday from Kanine Records.
Lucid Express is playing D.C.'s Pie Shop on Sunday, March 8. Details here.
[Photo: Lucid Express Bandcamp]