For a band that shares its name with an Ocean Blue album, it's ironic that they were able to accomplish what Hershey, PA's post-New Wave pop rockers couldn't. In the mid-'90s, the Ocean Blue tried a decidedly aggressive approach, making their gleaming-diamond guitars sparkle a little less and turning on the distortion pedal.

It didn't work.

The Ocean Blue couldn't balance the fey charm of their sound with the volume increase. The band sounded stiff with forced, unappealing tracks. Cerulean, on the other hand, can really rock while keeping the narcotic beauty of their shimmering riffs intact.

Based in Los Angeles, Cerulean share an appetite for dreamy textures with a half-dozen British acts from the late '80s and early '90s. For those who were still in diapers at the time, there was once an English indie movement called "shoegazer," appropriately termed since many of the groups stared at their sneakers while playing disorienting, fuzz-laden, and often repetitive guitars. The difference is that Cerulean places their vocals in front of the mix; you can actually hear what leader Rick Bolander is singing instead of the indecipherable whispered longings of My Bloody Valentine.

The group places an emphasis on songwriting over sonics, which is something the old 'gazers never did. The tunes on this LP are actually hummable and comprehensible. "Like Fading Stars" and "Here Is Hoping" are especially powerful, emotion and muscle powering ethereal grooves that'll knock the light from distant stars.
                            Read more...
                        

                            
Is it too early for shoegazer nostalgia? As the New Wave resurrection continues to build steam in the U.K. and even in the U.S. with the mammoth success of the Killers and Franz Ferdinand, the eventual revival of genre spin-off dream-pop shouldn't be far behind.

To Cerulean's credit the Los Angeles-based group has been swimming in the waters of guitar swirl for a number of years now, traveling in the path abandoned by pioneers such as Ride, Swervedriver, and Catherine Wheel, the latter two seeming to have the largest impact on the band.

Vocalist Rick Bolander recalls both Rob Dickinson of Catherine Wheel and Swervedriver's Adam Franklin. However, Cerulean manages to avoid the excesses of the two and really shoegazer acts in general. There aren't any tracks [on 'No Sense In Waiting'] that meander into a cloud of psychedelic smoke; the songs are compact and radio-friendly, given a pop sheen by co-producer David Newton, former guitarist of the Mighty Lemon Drops.

Too often groups of this sort would get lost in their own dreaminess, lose focus as effects pedals are exploited and bled dry. Thankfully, Cerulean's tracks move forward without taking long glances at the scenery. Songs such as "Stop Running" and "Hi Riser" propel themselves briskly. And there really isn't a boring moment on the LP. It's a blast and not just a blast from the past.
                            Read more...