_{By Sam Andersen}

Ah, shoegaze – a term coined in the early ’90s to describe a new subgenre of rock that was defined by a smearing of crushingly loud distortion and dreamy, ethereal vocals. Essentially, a wall of noise that was being harnessed by a bunch of weirdo rockers staring at pedalboards. Levelor channels this early shoegaze energy but abandons one of its most prominent tenets: the abundant use of reverb. The result is a sound that the band aptly classifies as “dirtgaze” (and we’d classify as Deseret Vibe Rock). Candy Suck is an explosive rock record that somehow manages to sound like an earthquake and a heavy, warm blanket at the same time.

The first thing that struck me about this album was how well they hit this shoegaze/dirtgaze guitar sound on the nose. Glide strumming is all over this record (“I Wanna Bereave” and “Honey Stick Handle”), accompanied closely by the album’s several anti-solos (“Ergo His Tepid Stream/Four Eighteen”). Amidst all of this beautiful-yet-controlled chaos, lead guitarist Rocky Maldonado’s guitar soars overhead, bending and screaming like an asteroid burning up in the stratosphere. I honestly don’t know how they got these guitars to sound so good.

Soft, sleepy vocals are sprinkled throughout each song, offering a serene contrast to the abundant feast of distortion spilling out all around. These vocals (amongst many, many other things) are reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine’s timeless shoegaze record, Loveless. Some may find vocals like this to be too quiet, but I feel that they play their part perfectly within each track. Take “The Perfumed Garden,” for example. Can you hear every single word being sung? No. Do you feel euphoric and weightless? Yup.

For me, the core moment on this album was “Japanese Sugar.” It begins with a stomp-clap drum beat that marches into a blissful wall of thick, layered distortion and bittersweet hooks. The guitar solo that adorns the latter portion of the song is as much a love letter to Kevin Shields as I’ve ever heard. It’s a great track for headbanging and/or stargazing.

Hearing an album from the Utah Valley that is this adventurous and noisy was extremely refreshing. One thing that’s immediately apparent about Levelor is that they are no strangers to noise, nor are they afraid of using it as their musical weapon of choice.

Make sure to follow Levelor on Instagram. You can listen to Japanese Sugar below.