(Andy Synn eases us into another week with his take on the debut album from Leaving, out now)
Webster’s Dictionary defines “liminal” as “of, relating to, or being an intermediate state, phase, or condition: in-between, transitional”.
Which is a pretty apt metaphor for Californian collective Leaving, whose sound exists somewhere in the strange, unresolved space between Doom and Shoegaze.
It’s going to be interesting to see how people take to Liminal over the next few weeks and months, as while the ever-expanding “Doom-gaze” sub-genre certainly has a lot of crossover potential, the very fact that it exists at such an “in-between” point means there’s a chance that – being neither truly one thing or the other – it may simply end up without a proper place in the grand scheme of things.
Hopefully, however, that won’t be an issue for Leaving, as the quartet (comprising current and former members of bands such as Lycus and Graves at Sea) have clearly put a lot of effort into cultivating a variety of compelling sonic textures from which to weave this particular tonal tapestry, and what Liminal may lack in “traditional” heaviness and hookiness it makes up for in immersive, emotive atmosphere.
Opener “Slow Motion Collapse” is a good example of what to expect from the record – namely a brooding blend of drifting, dreamlike ambience and moody, melodic melancholy which slowly but surely builds, layer by layer, as each song progresses – but it’s not really until “Broken Flame”, which feels just that little bit more defined, that little bit less ephemeral, that Liminal really starts to take shape.
Of course, “ephemeral” is often the watch-word when it comes to this particular style/genre (and could certainly be applied, for better or worse, to the desolately delicate, and likely to be somewhat divisive, vocals), but there’s also a certain truth to the fact that it requires a solid foundation – which the punchier drum work and weightier guitar/bass interplay underpinning “Broken Flame” most certainly supply – in order to be able to truly soar… and that remains true here.
Sure, the band may still be something of a work in progress – the aforementioned vocals, in particular, while no doubt more than fitting for the music and the mood they’re trying to convey, could probably do with a little more authority, and a more distinct sense of identity, next time around – but when they do finally manage to spread their wings (as they do during the gorgeously grungy doom ‘n’ gloom of “Hollow Ache” and the epic, expansive title-track, with the latter in particular exemplifying the simmering, shimmering potential of the group’s fledgling artistic ambitions) you can truly feel them reaching, yearning, for greater things.
So while Leaving may well still be in a somewhat… liminal… state at the moment, still changing, still developing, still transitioning from an abstract idea into a more concrete form, that shouldn’t (and, in my opinion, doesn’t) prevent them from leaving their mark with their debut, one which – fingers crossed – should be but the first of many more to come.