Dorias Baracca by Dorias Baracca

Dorias Baracca's existence was cut short when lead singer, guitar player and main songwriter, Buster Svendsen, passed away in the summer of 2011 - incidentally the same day as the album was completed. This is the first time this material has been released. Swirling, melodic dream-pop wrapped in loud, kaleidoscopic guitars, heavy drums and ecstatic noise. Bleak but sensuous, visceral but tuneful, brimming with youthful wonder and confusion.

Dorias Baracca was formed in Odense, Denmark in 2007. They released an EP on prestiguous London label Club AC30 in January 2010, a release that received plenty of befitting praise from the British press: ”...Already light years ahead of many peers who've spent entire careers searching for a similar happy medium”, wrote Drowned in Sound.

It turned out to be the band's only release while in existence. Although their sound unmistakenly belongs in the shoegaze pantheon there's something very unique about it – they managed to filter their influences through their own vision. Slowdive never sounded this loud, hard-hitting and desperate. My Bloody Valentine was never this colourful and psychedelic.

Dorias Baracca married the thick haze of guitars to trippy psychedelia, and ultimately had as much in common with American bands such as (early) Smashing Pumpkins and Dinosaur Jr. as with the more ethereal British bands. As circumstance would have it this album would be the last thing the band ever recorded, and for various reasons it has remained unreleased since its completion in 2011, until now. Although they were only in their late teens at the time it's a fully formed album: it's the sound of a band with total confidence in what they're doing, superb skills for melody and arrangement, as well as an unmistakenly youthful energy. For fans of dream-pop and noisy, visceral rock it's a rare treat that this album finally sees the light of day. Co-produced, mixed and mastered by Jonas Munk.

Reccomended if you like: Swervedriver, My Bloody Valentine, Smashing Pumpkins.