Drawing listeners in with their effortlessly hypnotic sound and languid cool, London duo
2:54 deliver an album of melancholy modern shoegaze on their self-titled debut. Naming themselves for their very favorite moment of a
Melvins song,
2:54 bring that same sense of specificity to their songwriting, crafting songs that, while textured and dramatic, still feel very concise.
2:54 aren't delving into the kind of wild-eyed, mind-boggling sound blasts that
My Bloody Valentine destroyed eardrums and melted minds with, but are instead following more in the tradition of
Lush with a sound that feels more compact. This tight structure gives the band an almost motorik quality, with songs like "Easy Undercover" and "Watcher" feeling like shoegaze filtered through
Queens of the Stone Age's early "robot rock" period, giving the songs a metronomic element that is constantly pushing things forward amidst the waves of lazy, shimmering guitars and haunting vocals. This kind of drifting momentum makes
2:54 a lot like taking a trip on a train, allowing listeners to simply sit back and enjoy the scenery without needing to think too much about how they're getting from one end of the journey to the other. ~ Gregory Heaney