Colour Kane: A Taste Of
Hidden Shoal

Dream pop outfit Colour Kane's A Taste Of is a magisterial debut that'll strongly appeal to fans of Lush and Cocteau Twins—no surprise, then, to find Robin Guthrie collaborating with the Belgian band on the penultimate song “Seaside Dream.” The group traffics in radiant pop where chiming guitar masses explode with shoegaze splendour and majestic vocal swirls shimmer in the sunlight. Though not quite as distinctive as Liz Fraser's (whose is?), Marjan Snykers' ethereal voice turns positively siren-like when layered into choral masses of celestial counterpoint. Her soaring vocal weaves turn the propulsive, bass-driven “A Kiss in a Lowland's Meadow” into an almost-impossibly dreamy ride while sweeping material like “Love Hurdles” gloriously unfurls in a spirit of controlled euphoria. Interestingly, shoegaze remains the obvious touchstone but “A Taste Of” and “Broken” are graced by melodies that evoke The Smiths more than anything else. A Taste Of features no shortage of blissed-out material but perhaps no songs are more heavenly than the anthemic “Share My Ease,” “Silya,” and, yes, “Seaside Dream” which constitute as magnificent a sampling of dream-pop as you're likely to hear in this lifetime. Especially magnificent, the Guthrie collab teleports Colour Kane into another stratosphere altogether for three-and-a-half minutes of pop perfection. The song is so great, it renders the Glorybox mix of “Too Late” that closes the album anti-climactic by comparison.

May 2007