Washer - Into The Blue

Washer

​Into The Blue
self-released; 2015

3.4 out of 5

By Ted Rogen
​

Washer is a one man band who recently released Into The Blue. Into The Blue is DIY effort the melds together elements of shoegaze, post-rock and post-punk. There are some solid ideas and is hopefully just the beginning of better things to come.

This EP is certainly lo-fi and a bit too lo-fi at times where it holds back the song. I would have have loved to have heard the vocals be more prominent as I couldn’t make out many of the lyrics. On top of that the recordings seem a little thin and missing some key frequencies. That being said Washer used what was available and heard some of the potential that lied in these songs.

Like most shoegaze efforts Washer utilizes a lot of reverb everywhere. The guitars, vocals and even the drums sound as if they are being played in a cave,

The EP starts with “Into The Blue” which revolves around melancholy yet pretty chord progressions. I was reminded of Jesus and The Mary Chain. It doesn’t take long for the vocal and drums to enter into the mix and establish and solid groove. There are minor timing issues here and there that give it a live feel. Washer implements a sample of I’m not sure what around the two minute mark. It was a nice addition to the song and didn’t overstay its welcome.

Next up is “II” which sounds like it could be the beginning of a predictable post-rock song. It ends up sounding closer to a band like Grizzly Bear. The song would have benefited from more changes and being more dynamic but it was still solid.

Washer than attempts the Black Sabbath cover “Planet Caravan”. The cover is more or less a shoegaze version of the song minus the percussion in the original. He closes with “Being No More” which has traces of My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive.

Into The Blue builds a solid foundation for Washer but he still has some work ahead to be able to compete with some of the best acts of today. Some of the songs felt they could have been more fleshed out and production will need to improve at some point. That being said there is some talent here and falls into a category of wait and see. ​

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