Forevr
Forevr is a shoegaze duo from Brisbane made up of Sam George-Allen and Donovan Miller. Yes, there’s an e missing from their name. I have to assume that this is done for the purposes of making themselves more “googleable”. You want to name your band something that’s a pretty commonly used word? Just omit a consonant, or spell it in an unorthodox way, or use a V where a U should be, or a pair of Vs where a W should be.
Anyway, Miller and George-Allen met some time last year when Miller recorded some stuff that George-Allen was doing with one of her previous bands. It’s worth mentioning that Miller is also in the brilliant Brisbane shoegaze band Roku Music. Miller and George-Allen recorded their debut EP in April 2015 and released it a couple of days later.
It’s also worth pointing out that George-Allen is more than just a shoegazer. She’s also a very gifted writer and storyteller. Take the time to read some of her stuff.
Here‘s a story about when she briefly worked at a strip club.
Here‘s one about using witchcraft to cast a love spell on a guy she liked.
She’s also an editor and co-founder of a feminist on-line literary magazine called Scum.
The Brisbane shoegaze and dream-pop scene is absolutely exploding right now. Just to name a few with new or forthcoming records this year, Brisbane has Kigo, Roku Music, Deafcult, and J Francis. Deafcult and Roku Music are related to each other, and J Francis to Kigo. It’s like a big collective. I love it.
The thing that’s usually said about Forevr is that they sound a bit like MBV and the Cocteaus. When asked to make a “top five albums of all-time” list, here’s what Sam George-Allen told The Blog That Celebrates Itself:
Cocteau Twins — Heaven or Las Vegas
My Bloody Valentine — Loveless
Kate Bush — Hounds of Love
Björk — Post
Warpaint — Warpaint
I’ve never been a Kate Bush fan (I know, I know), but I love the rest of those albums. And it’s easy to hear the influence of the first two in this four-song set.
I hadn’t heard of this band until they started following me on twitter the other day, and it didn’t take long for me to fall in love with their music.
The EP has four songs, and they’re all great. This is song #2:
“Heart of Ice” by Forevr
It may be winter in Brisbane, but it’s hot as hell here, and it’s perfectly fitting that this is all gooey and swirly. Like melted ice cream. George-Allen’s vocals are sort of cloaked by lots of reverb/delay on the guitars, by the synthetic drums, and also by the reverb on the vocals themselves. It makes it mysterious and dark, though she has a nice dreamy, airy voice. It definitely sounds like it’s influenced by early Cocteaus.
This EP is something that they threw together very quickly, and I think it’s fantastic. I can’t wait to hear more from these two. I also can’t wait to see what happens when they have better production values. Their future looks very bright, as it does for the whole Brisbane shoegaze scene.
They released the EP on black cds and gold cassettes. My disdain for the cassette revival is well documented, and I won’t delve on that, but I do think it’s cool that the cassettes are gold and they come in a black o-card. They also released it digitally. You can buy your choice of format via the bandcamp page. The cassette and the CD each go for $10 AUD, which is about $7.77 USD. You can also download the EP by naming your own price. Do it. You won’t be sorry.
this is that song 
July 4th, 2015 at 12:14 pm
[…] “Didn’t take long for me to fall in love with their music. Their future looks very bright, as it does for the whole Brisbane shoegaze scene” – This Is That Song […]
July 5th, 2015 at 7:53 am
[…] “Didn’t take long for me to fall in love with their music. Their future looks very bright, as it does for the whole Brisbane shoegaze scene” – This Is That Song […]