Partway through the years-long recording process of Finish dream pop quartet
Mumrunner's first album, half the band left. Over the course of two EPs and a handful of singles, the group had already established themselves as highly melodic songwriters with a tendency to burst out into noisy fits of shoegaze distortion. Bringing in a new drummer and a new vocalist would dramatically alter any band's sound, and
Mumrunner leave behind some of the heaviness of their past on
Valeriana for a more sophisticated window into their collective dream world. It's an album of subtleties, and even the overall evolution in sound takes a few minutes to sink in.
Valeriana opens with "Foe," a misty, atmospheric song made up of chiming dual guitar leads and a chorus of washed-out vocal harmonies. Somewhere between
M83's romantic nostalgia and
Wild Nothing's shut-in songcraft, the song finds a shape of its own. Relaxed tempos replace the aggression that guided the band's earliest tunes with a steady, friendly push. Even upbeat songs like "Haven" and "Easy Life" are dynamic and shifting, sounding more in line with the indie haze of
Beach Fossils than the zippy walls of shoegaze noise that made up their first EP Full Blossom. Most of
Valeriana explores diverse styles. The funky bass groove and chorus-heavy guitar chords of "Remember Me" is more chillwave than noise rock, and there are even hints of shadowy goth rock throughout. The slowly rolling title track sounds particularly inspired by
Disintegration-era
Cure. It's not a complete overhaul of
Mumrunner's sound, but the refined tones of
Valeriana favor vocal harmonies, haunting melodies, and tense dynamism over volume. Sleepier but no less exciting,
Valeriana is a progression marked by more thoughtful and ultimately more engaging songs. ~ Fred Thomas