Premiere: Kindling's Spike & Wave 7"

One of our best tipsters had us focused on Western Mass.-based shoegaze duo Kindling pretty much from the jump, and -- as we wrote here in March -- we enjoyed the steady parade of demos the pair placed at its Bandcamp through the spring. When that parade faltered, however, other folks in the know might have wondered whither Kindling? Fear not! Principals Gretchen Williams and Stephen Pierce had simply begun concentrating on writing for a planned self-release. As that plan was being executed, however, Kindling was picked up by Dallas-based Moon Sounds Records. Clicky Clicky readers may recognize the label, as it recently issued R.M. Hendrix's Urban Turks Country Jerks, which we wrote about here in early May.

And so it comes to pass that later this week Moon Sounds will release Kindling's proper debut release, the beautifully blurred Spike & Wave 7" EP. The short set proffers four tunes saturated with trenchant melodies and monolithic guitars; it will be available in a limited edition of 300 lavender vinyl singles with sleeve art that evokes the cover of Bauhaus' classic third LP The Sky's Gone Out. Two of Kindling's new tunes have been streaming online for a few weeks, but we are very pleased to be able to premiere the whole kit and caboodle for Clicky Clicky readers today. Like those lollipops with gum in the center, there's a delicious tension in Kindling's music, namely the play between cacaphonous, towering guitars and Gretchen and Stephen's dreamy and serene vocals. The tension is there in the opener "Other Times," and reliably appears in "Sunspots", "Given" and "A Return" as well. We've stated previously that the sound reminds us of Velocity Girl's mammoth first LP Copacetic, and we stand by that assessment. We think Spike & Wave is just the sort of thing Clicky Clicky readers are looking for, so stream the entire EP via the embed below, and then click right here to order it from Moon Sounds ahead of the proper July 17 release date. We eagerly await word that Kindling has begun playing shows, and will certainly alert readers to that fact and particularly to when the band makes it to Boston to rock face. In the meantime, permit Spike & Wave to rock your ears.

Kindling: Bandcamp | Facebook | Interzizzles | Soundcloud