(c) Super Pink Moon
In 2019, Ihor Pryshliak, guitarist and vocalist with Somali Yacht Club, called out Super Pink Moon brought to life a solo setting to let off steam in slightly more dreamy realms. At the end of 2020, their first mini-album “Nude” was released. The sequel was written during the Russian invasion of Pryshliak’s Ukrainian homeland – half before, half following February 24, 2021. The music should serve as an escape from the brutal everyday life and at the same time initiate a process of self-healing. „Iron Rain“ deals with conflicting emotions while trying to be as complex as possible.
The unreality of the new reality already comes through in the song title of the opener: “Nothing Is Real” describes a certain bewilderment and dresses it in shoegaze and post rock, while the darkest anxiety is bubbling under the surface. The vocals are buttery soft, the emotions are raw, and the barren land of the second half of the song suddenly brings you back to the here and now. The deceptive “Calmness” awaits there, more fragment than actual song, whose ambient approach tries to simulate a kind of resting pulse. Such insertions and idiosyncrasies appear once more and once more over the course of the record, whereby the synth-pop appendage “ウクライナにславаあれ” is really out of the ordinary.
But more than enough ‘real’ songs have made it onto the record, including the triumphant and destructive “Per Aspera Ad Astra”. Thick alternative rock and melancholic heaviness brand Deftones resonate, the thundering drums break up the track in places. The final fanfare gets under your skin. The “Doomscrolling” with a video is also exciting, which as a whole stays in more classic gaze areas, rather hesitantly venturing into the mighty arrangement. The harsh, scrubbing bass can’t get out of your head, towards the end the intensity is almost unbearable.
Pleasant unbearability runs through 38 stirring minutes that go far beyond classic shoegaze expectations. The search for meaning and understanding is evident in Pryshliak every second. It remains to be seen whether “Iron Rain” achieves this, but the offensive confrontation with one’s own self, with the most brutal living conditions and with the gentle attempt at escapism in the best sense of the word gets under your skin. Super Pink Moon fascinate more than ever with an album that definitely doesn’t leave you cold.
Rating: 8/10
Available from: 02/16/2023
Available from: self-distribution
Facebook: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064109648958
Category: Magazin, Reviews
