It Hugs Back – Inside Your Guitar

Dream pop with shoegazey (easy on the ears, but not luring or ethereal) vocals, but with much cleaner sound than shoegaze. The insert says they've been compared to Yo La Tengo and MBV, which I can see, but without the unique edge that makes each of the respective artists great. Some good tracks, but overall is unassumingly and indistinctly pleasant.

No FCCs. Reviewed by Truc Nguyen.

1. (4:32) Slooow ambient track with a teensy bit of distortion and hushed vocals.
2.** (2:59) Faster track with well-sculpted out upbeat melodies. Fade out.
3. (3:43) Fast track with more of the same sweet melodies and breathy vocals, some synth at parts. Watch out - gets loud at 1:53 and 3:13 ends noisy but fades out.
4.*** (4:02) Slower, simpler arrangement with earnest melody. Can see comparison to Yo La Tengo here.
5. (4:50) Another slow, dreamy track with a bit of feedback.
6. (2:55) Sharper chords and rhythm. Super typical fade out.
7. (3:24) While track 6 was slightly angry, this track is mid-tempo and upbeat. Sudden mellowing out about 2:00
8.** (3:16) Slower, bittersweet and more introspective. Whispering vocals and faint xylophone towards the end.
9. (2:17) Mid-tempo, semi sharp guitar riffs.
10. (2:36) Repetitive synth and more of the same barely audible vocals.
11. (6:01) Slow at first but picks up at 1:56 with guitar. Simple chords with sparingly used reverb. Can be a bit repetitive, this track could benefit from not being as long.