REVIEW: Dorias Baracca - Handsome Melting Point EP

8.75 out of 10

Find it here.

BUY THIS NOW. Dorias Baracca are a group of 17 year old (yeah, only 17) Danish boys who meld lush/ambrosial layers of sound with appeasing vocals and walls of guitar feedback/reverb/other heavenly fx. "Handsome Melting Point" is their debut release, and if it's any indication to where their music will take them, welcome to every Shoegazer's newest obsession. I must apologize upfront, there really aren't enough kind words to describe/justify how satisfying this album is. Dorias Baracca are equal parts Slowdive, Ride, Interpol, Mogwai, and any other project that derives it's sound from soaring guitar transmissions with layers (upon layers) of sustained metagalactic noise. The only difference between this group and previous mentioned groups is that those bands had years to develop their sound. I firmly believe that most people aren't born with the kind of ears it takes to develop these kind of "Rock" records. The unimaginable amounts of layers/filler noise/walls of sounds within Dorias Baracca's debut EP are more than enough to make any veteran rocker jealous. Which is, precisely why it's so important to keep mentioning these guys are only 17 (!). WARNING: If you are a fellow musician and get jealous easily "Handsome Melting Point" may just destroy (or hopefully inspire) all of your dreams and aspirations to ever make it in the recording industry.

BUY THIS NOW. "Handsome Melting Point" starts off with the single/video they released titled "The Only Touch". What starts off as a soothing Alt-Rock/Shoegaze anthem quickly develops into a macrocosm of killer synths with truly desirous guitar sounds (possibly the album's standout track). After that amazingly celestial opus, comes an epic 11 minute track titled "Birthday" which is just as astonishing and just slightly more noisy (also an album standout). Every instrument on every track stands out so much making an ungodly unified/fulfilling album that is just so f^%&ing killer it makes my headphones/heart melt. This is what Shoegaze music should sound like with pristine production and the right musicians (WITH the right ears). Kudos to you Dorias Baracca, KUDOS TO YOU.

BUY THIS NOW, I did, and afterwards I listened to it at 5 times in a row. Perfect album/must own for any Shoegazer fan, if you don't buy this now, you will eventually. This is by far one of 2010's standout albums. (so very) HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Standout Tracks: ALLLLLLLLLLLLL, BUT ESPECIALLY; The Only Touch (love the keys in this track, Birthday (love the guitar fx), Silence (about 3:35 in, mmmmmmmhmmmmm), Sandtown (nice vocal layers)