Isobella
Akasha
Clairecords/SpaceStation 121
Formerly known as Akasha, Tampa’s Isobella carve out gorgeous shoegazer sounds that recall aspects of the Pale Saints, Slowdive, and My Bloody Valentine in all the best ways. There is such an immediately familiar quality about the songs that if I didn’t know better I would wonder if I didn’t hear them first in the background of someone’s house sometime around 1993 where they sank into my subconscious. Laura’s haze-wrapped vocals and Heath’s softly sung vocals are touchingly complementary to one another. The guitars glisten and shimmer amongst analog-sounding keyboards, creating dreamily introspective atmospheres, intimate and cozy like a shared bath by candlelight.
Isobella have a fantastic hold on the concept of pace, allowing the perfect amount of tension to slowly, unobtrusively swell, cresting and spilling over where it must, drifting unhurriedly elsewhere. Blissfully warm melodies to soak in.
Clairecords, P.O. Box 61495, Jacksonville, FL 32236, http://www.clairecords.com; SpaceStation 121, 121 W. North St., Tampa, FL 33614
