It’s nice to start the New Year discovering projects or artists like The Stirrings. It is an experimental rock band born in 2018 from the meeting between Raúl Galán Berlanga (synthesizers), Juan Pérez Marina (guitar) and the New York musician, Ryan Louis Bradley (bass and vocals). Their first single, Bottle of Filth is available since November 6, 2020, in digital format and announces the upcoming release of their first album, X-ray Eyes.
The Stirrings borrow a lot of pop and shoegazing elements to build the sound identity of this single. The song develops around a simple, no-frill drum pattern whose repetitive pattern creates a dynamic movement through the rather classical, verse-chorus structure. The bass riff follows the rhythm of the drums and the guitar brings a colorful touch through arpeggios on the chorus. As for the verses, the sound atmosphere is based on distorted layers of sounds that contribute, like the bass/drum duo, to establish a continuity in the title. One could bring the synthesizer sounds closer to the experimental side claimed by the band, but integrated to the whole, they lose a bit of this aspect.
If the mix doesn’t really surprise and stays on familiar paths, the inspirations are there and let us predict excellent things for the album to come. We hope that The Stirrings will be able to surprise us further by moving the cursor of the experimentation to find the touch that will differentiate them from other rock bands.
Translation: Joanne Gagnon
