Crocodiles @ The Turf Club

Nov 16, 2013

Crocodiles bring their brand of shoegaze to the Turf Club, with opener Wymond Miles adding his brilliant guitar-focused music to the mix.

Crocodiles is a band that is at once pop melody and a bed of lo-fi shoegaze at the same time. The sound is just rough enough around the edges to appeal to listeners beyond high school age, but also bright in a way that noisy guitar music normally is not. The harmonies from the keyboardist significantly alter the emotional tone of the band--everything is just a little bit happier. Raveonette's Sune Rose Wagner's touch of production is most apparent in the keyboard and the harmony, but the band's punky distortion and sharp-edged guitar buzz is still there. Just listen to "Marquis De Sade" and you'll know it immediately.

Wymond Miles brought Interpol to mind in an instant. The dry guitar sound, the heavy but slow pulsing bass, high hat flourishes and of course a baritone vocal that is often stoic and sober. The look of Wymond Miles, especially the hair, make it hard to ignore the influence of 80's icons like Robert Smith and Echo & the Bunnymen, but the performance was understated still. In place of the 80's panache, Wymond Miles brought a dark and brooding "Turn on the Bright Lights" sobriety.

Photos courtesy of Geoff Leung.

CROCODILES

 

WYMOND MILES