{"id":2530,"date":"2024-08-03T22:49:15","date_gmt":"2024-08-03T22:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/?p=2530"},"modified":"2024-08-03T22:49:15","modified_gmt":"2024-08-03T22:49:15","slug":"becoming-pt-1-whisper-gang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/2024\/08\/03\/becoming-pt-1-whisper-gang\/","title":{"rendered":"Becoming Pt. 1 – Whisper Gang"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Whispers about some new Gang<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1994, Slowdive\u2019s Souvlaki<\/em> became the imprint for most shoegaze following it and since then, \u2018good\u2019 shoegaze has been sparse (shoutout LSD and the Search for God). It is a noise sub-genre that focuses on presenting that heavily produced, pleasantly distorted shoegaze sustain sounds so possibilities of inventiveness are often lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because shoegaze is a straightforward genre because it is inherently simple to make-, really only requiring a guitar and a reverb pedal, artists must get incredibly creative to stand out in the scene. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whisper Gang, featuring vocalist siblings Nick and JJ Mokrzewski (Mok-shev-ski) on guitar and keyboard respectively, Bailey Skilton on bass guitar and Sean Winick on drums, are a Toronto-based shoegaze band that-, like all shoegaze bands, try desperately to expand beyond the constraining nature of the genre and barely squeak by on their EP, Becoming Pt. 1<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Becoming Pt. 1<\/em>, is relatively uninventive yet enjoyable at its core because shoegaze requires little of listeners, especially those fond of noisy music. Specifically the EP\u2019s well-produced ethereal and elated tones sound like ecstasy being shot right into your ears. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first track, \u201cDon\u2019t Leave,\u201d is an essential example of shoegaze syndrome. It is pleasant to listen to but lacks anything to bring me back. It carries the same sluggish melody throughout under weak, difficult to understand lyrics. It is in fact shoegaze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIncognito,\u201d presents an instant change of pace in the project. It acts as a fast paced and upbeat component of Whisper Gang\u2019s repertoire and a demonstration of the inventiveness they can bring to the genre-, enough for me to write: \u201cthis is what im talking about, goddamn,\u201d in my first listen notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The song utilizes the immediate voices at its disposal rather than stereotypical heavily-layered guitars. While the guitar drives the song with its reverbed chords, the bass develops a distinct alternate melody under vocals (that are lost in the mix again), creating a catchy counter melody to the instrumentation. Dope solo too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next two tracks, \u201cThese words,\u201d and \u201cWasted Moments,\u201d are weaker efforts and show the stagnation of the genre. What applies to \u201cDon\u2019t Leave,\u201d applies here as well; an enjoyable melody with captivating features that are minimally used and not expanded upon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, \u201cWasted Moments,\u201d begins with (finally) noticeable vocals over a guitar timbre not heard anywhere else on the project. This later becomes lost in the greater soundscape created as the song builds, losing what made it initially unique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final song, \u201cWhispers,\u201d represents incredible possibility. The other tracks whispered rumours of this potential while \u2018Whispers,\u201d shouts it high from the \u2018pedal\u2019stal. God I\u2019m funny. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The song features distinct sections of sound that provide highlights of the instruments: a guitar intro melody that transitions into a synth solo which morphs into a guitar solo, then halfway through the instruments coalesce as a verse hits, moving toward the bridge filled with bass flourishes, driving us home to the coda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the best track, it is not without its faults. Throughout the song the vocals and bass (at some points) are lost in the mix and the jump to the coda is clumsy and abrupt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whisper Gang\u2019s Becoming Pt. 1 <\/em>is a solid and respectable effort in a worn out and limiting genre. The tracks can be a smidge similar sounding at times and can mostly be described as \u201cwhat you hear initially is what you get,\u201d but what you hear is filled with whispers of merit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

6.5\/10<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out what I\u2019m yappin\u2019 about when \u201cBecoming Pt. 1\u201d hits streaming services July 31.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lucas Bustinski for The B-Side<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whispers about some new Gang.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,9],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[213],"class_list":["post-2530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsfeed","category-reviews"],"authors":[{"term_id":213,"user_id":5,"is_guest":0,"slug":"lucasbustinski","display_name":"Lucas Bustinski","avatar_url":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/20240516_210845-96x96.jpg","author_category":"","first_name":"Lucas","last_name":"Bustinski","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2530"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2532,"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530\/revisions\/2532"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2530"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}