07.26.2015 — “Sunday Morning” by BLiNDNESS

BLiNDNESS

If you only listen to one song tonight, make it “Sunday Morning” by BLiNDNESS (2015, from the album WRAPPED iN PLASTiC).

BLiNDNESS is an electro-shoegaze trio from London. You probably know their lead guitarist Debbie Smith from her previous stints in Curve, Echobelly, Snowpony (alongside members of Stereolab and My Bloody Valentine), and more recently as a part-time member of SPC ECO with her longtime friend and musical collaborator Dean Garcia. The other two members are Beth Rettig (vocals, programming) and Emma Quick (bass).

They typically present their name in all upper-case except the i. And their album title. And the song titles. I’m not sure what that’s about. They also present their name in the English-speaking Braille visual representation of their name. The Braille “letters” are all in lower-case, though.

In case you’re wondering, that looks like this:

The band got their start in 2008, and they’ve been part of the Saint Marie Records family since last autumn. Add them to a very long list of great artists on that little Texas-based shoegaze-centric label. This is the band’s debut long player, and it was just released this week. There was a limited run of 250 vinyl copies. That, along with CDs and digital downloads are available via the SMR store here

Here’s one of my favorite songs from the album

“Sunday Morning” by BLiNDNESS

I really like Quick’s fuzzy bass on this one, and the relentless snare of the programmed drums. This song isn’t as noisy or as gazey as most of the album, and it’s certainly not as noisy or gazey as any of Smith’s other bands, but there’s just about this that I love. Part of it might have to do with Rettig’s vocals which are kind of crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle. Or something like that. In a small way, her voice reminds me of Toni Halliday.

It’s sort of fun that the album’s cover is a shot of the London Eye from the bottom of it. It looks like all of the photos on the inside are also shots of the London Eye (which has, apparently, been recently co-opted by Coca-Cola). I know it’s “just a Ferris Wheel”, but I really would love to ride that thing one day. Separate from that, I think the cover photo is just a really cool picture.