A couple of years ago I went to a post-rock night in my city in order to see a band I like a lot, however, that night brought me a great surprise when I witnessed Sadfields, whose music is not in fact post-rock, but I am glad they were invited because those 20 minutes of performance left me with a very positive impression. It is not a secret that there has been a Shoegaze revival worldwide and even in Mexico, not only in the fandom but also talking about new bands.
Sadfields, a very young and talented trio of musicians, have decided to take this shoegaze ride (pun intended) and delight us with some high quality noise with their debut EP entitled “Homesick”, which contains 6 tracks and a total time of 31 minutes which I have really enjoyed every time I’ve listened to it. The cover art is also pretty cool, disarming, depressing but beautiful, taking that shoegaze spirit not only in the music but also in the visuals.
The album opens with “Missing”, a short piece that works as an introductory track, very soft and atmospheric, only kind guitars that will lead us to “Whenever”. Here the music takes us to the essence of some old shoegaze and noise acts such as Ride or Chapterhouse to name just a couple. Guitar work might be the one that drops the rope that you will catch, but those bass lines and the drums job are also addictive and maintain the rhythm always on top. Here the first lyrics can also be heard; the eternal reverb and the noise have to be present, creating a retro-but-fresh-shoegaze sound.
“Falling Apart” has a 20-second calm intro before it explodes. It is impossible not to shake our heads while listen to it, by the way. After a minute, it slows down, vocals enter and then it becomes like a circle, ups and downs, silences and noises, but it always keep me interested. “I Don’t Know Why” is also a single, and I think it is the first song I listened from them on my computer, and has prevailed as a favorite of mine. Distant voices, repetitive clean and distorted guitars and a mid-tempo rhythm can be found here; while the seconds pass the intensity increases as well as the noise. This should be THE Sadfields song by excellence. Great!
“Out of Hand” continues with the same essence, making the album even more solid than it already is. It is not easy to find in Mexico bands playing this kind of music with such nice quality, which is why I believe they can reach more and more ears with the pass of time. The album closes with the amazing and ambitious “I’m Tired (Space Echo)”, a nine-minute song that gathers all the elements that any shoegaze fan would love. It has a soft start but while the seconds pass new elements are being added, it also has pretty nice spacey noises that creates different atmospheres, while the guitars, bass and drums continue with a repetitive but addictive sound that has some reminiscences of other popular bands such as Smashing Pumpkins. The song runs so fast, no matter its long length it always passes like a lightning, meaning that I always enjoy it.
This is a very wonderful and promising debut by Sadfields, I am sure there is now a nice amount of people who have discovered their music and like it, but I bet it will increase in the near future.