There’s ice on the roads, ice on the fields, ice across Canada, and
Edmonton, Alberta’s own Slow Girl Walking, clothed in their finest wintry garb,
has hunkered down, likely in a small, confined space, heated only by a
crackling fire, and recorded Gloo,
their self-released cassette EP. Is the term “gloo” meant to indicate a sort of
cohesion, perhaps among the songs, or is it short for “igloo,” where – hey!
That’s probably the small confined space where they recorded this thing. It
makes all kinds of sense.
However you take your made-up words, Gloo is a dream-pop/shoegaze fetishist’s new favorite trifle. Like
Swervedriver, Ride, Swirlies? Got you covered here. How about Lush, Slowdive,
My Bloody Valentine? Yep. All these and more figure into Slow Girl Walking’s
inspirational oeuvre, and make for a delightful listen. The tape is short, five
well-crafted nuggets of noise and gauze, melody and shimmer. There’s also only
three guys in the band – Matthew, Brett, and Andy. Can you imagine such a vivid
sound coming from three people? I can’t.
There’s a remove here, a clinical distance suggested in the iciness of
the tape’s cover, and the visual cue is helpful in immersing yourself in the
music. It’s crisp, clean, and freezer-burnt in all the right ways. My
prescription is to put on some headphones and get ready to see your breath as
you exhale arctic air – the songs will do that to you. Who knew all the heat in
your body escaped through your ears? You do. Well, you do now, anyway.
--Ryan Masteller
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