Electric Blanket, aka Kevin Frank of British Columbia, is a genius band
namer. He’s taken the twin concepts at the heart of shoegaze, electricity and
the suffocating at times but ultimately safe swathing of a blanket (in this
case, a blanket of guitar effects). Bear fucking with me.* You know how your
favorite shoegaze bands, whether it’s My Bloody Valentine or Slowdive or Lush
or any of the other ones, just feel right,
just feel like they get you and that you can go to them (meaning their records,
not them them) with any of your
problems? You can close out the rest of the world when you’re hanging out with
your best shoegaze buds, you can insulate and medicate, you can, ahem, cover yourself in the comforting blanket of sonic joy they produce.
Oh yeah, that makes total sense! Electric Blanket is an electric-y
blanket-y wash of lo-fi sonic ear candy, cotton candy, candy that’s sticky and
dense and light and fluffy and sweet all at the same time. It’s an antidote to
the melancholy of youth and should make you feel better when that special
someone doesn’t quite return your affection for them. I should know – I’ve felt
affection for and been spurned by many. I mean, to be honest, this was like
almost twenty years ago or so now, and my emotional radar barely registers
anything anymore. No blips, no bloops, no pings. I’m an old, rotten husk,
wondering how Electric Blanket can still do it, pining for his youth. Maybe
there’s some sort of Brothers Grimm magic where I can siphon off his life force
like a witch or something. Nah, I’d much rather just listen to the seven sweet
songs on this luscious green cassette.
*Or don’t bear fucking with me, your call.
--Ryan Masteller
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