The name might suggest an experimental electro act, but Laboratory Noise are in fact a seven-piece psychedelia-tinged post-rock shoegaze act, and 'When Sound Generates Light' begins with a spaced out guitar drone of an intro. This paves the way for 'She Dies Screaming,' a swirling hypnotic mantric dream of soaring psychedelic guitars. 'Lost in Battles' carries an altogether more brittle guitar sound and is propelled by urgent gunfire percussion and a bassline lifted straight from the Peter Hook Book of Brooding Basslines. Building to a gargantuan crescendo, the only disappointment is that at six and a half minutes, it's not nearly long enough.
The pace is slowed with 'Tesla.' 'It's just like waking from a dream,' sing Paul and Kerry in harmony, their dual vocals reminiscent of Slowdive, and it sounds like the dream is still ongoing... then the gentle drifting melody is cut through with a searing wave of FX-drenched guitar. It's down to a crawl for 'When Everything Burns Down,' which begins as a shoegaze dirge before evolving into a magnificent wave of chiming guitars and more chiming guitars.
Around this point, there's something of amid-album lull, and the obvious centrepiece - the untitled track seven with a duration of over fifteen minutes is a rather forgettable semi-ambient drone and twinkle of subtle vapour trails and barely-a-whisper vocals for the first eight minutes or so, until a chatter of distant voices and shards of treble snake in and penetrate the gentle atmosphere. Alas, this doesn't amount to anything and eventually tapers off into nothingness. 'Here, She Is Evergreen' promises more attack, and does have some more exciting moments, but for the most part is content with being casual and, well, content. 'She's there for me,' McNulty croons lazily.
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Finally, 'Earthrise' explodes from the speakers and comes on like My Bloody Valentine with half-buried ethereal vocals and blasts of yawning, rolling surges of blurred guitar. At once dreamy and exhilarating, this is shoegaze at its best, and sees Laboratory Noise fulfil the potential hinted at in the first few tracks of the album. 'Things That Fall From the Sky' is a highlight of the latter portion of the album, shifting as it does from dark and fragile to soaring and searing, before 'I Can Only Give You Everything' delivers all of the things one expects from a post-rock epic, and concludes the album with a majestically realised crescendo. In all, a cracking release and a debut of exceptional quality.
www.myspace.com/laboratorynoise
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