Splashh – Waiting A Lifetime

Making a Splashh with their sophomore album...

When the touring cycle for Splashh’s first album ‘Comfort’ came to an end around 2013, the band seemingly disappeared, only returning more recently in 2015 to tease us with the lolloping ‘Pure Blue’.

Waiting a lifetime is a sentiment that many of their fans will be able to identify with, the thrilling sonic ruckus that was their debut was stirring and addictive — making their absence all the more noticeable. Their sophomore delivery, however, makes up for it in leaps and bounds, veering between surf rock and stoner rock, the LP dips its toe in a variety of genre sensibilities but is ultimately tied together with signature Splashh sludgy grunge guitars and fuzzy vocals dripping with reverb.

Lead single ‘Rings’ opens the record, with vocalist Sasha Carlson pining: “I would change if I could, I would / You should change if you could, you should” over a thumping bassline while ‘Come Back’ is a repetitive, whirling circuit of looping vocals and guitar lines that threaten to become lodged at the core of your consciousness for at least a week.

‘Honey And Salt’ is a wealth of juxtapositions bled into three and a half minutes, from the sweet and savoury title to the line “Touch of an angel, only it’s painful.” It’s heavier and more prominent electronically equating to a musical whirlwind, much like the predominantly instrumental and intergalactic ‘Look Down To Turn Away’, with soaring electronic elements ready for take-off. The psychedelic tendencies that run through the middle section of ‘Waiting For A Lifetime’ show their capability to take you to another world, and it’s only emphasised by the scuzzy, distorted musicality exhaled by the Australian-via-London-via-New York four-piece.

Closing the LP, ‘No 1 Song In Hell’ is a raucous ride bordering on ramshackle and sounding more heavenly than hellish, despite an eerie introduction. This record can be the perfect soundtrack to slacking in the sun or it can be deconstructed, stripped of its intricacies and analysed in great depth, allowing for new discoveries even on the 20th listen — and it’s this diversity that proves why Splashh are not a drop in the ocean.

7/10

Words: Shannon Cotton

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