Brief History of Love

Personnel: Joanne Robertson (vocals); William Rees (guitar); Dickie Landry (saxophone); Jamie Reynolds (vibraphone); Alice O'Connell (bass guitar).
Audio Mixers: Alan Moulder; Rich Costey.
Recording information: Electric Lady Studio, New York, NY; The Big Pink Studio, New York, NY.
Photographers: Mark Atkins; Chris Bigg.
On their debut album, A BRIEF HISTORY OF LOVE, the Big Pink immerse themselves in all aspects of the first wave of shoegaze. The duo of Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell have doubtlessly made a complete study of the guitar music coming out of their native U.K. in the late '80s and early '90s and worked to build their sound into an impressive conglomeration of influences that's made up of components like the proggy excess of the Catherine Wheel, the guitar overload of My Bloody Valentine, the drum loops and dance elements of Chapterhouse, the dark, industrial sheen of Curve, and the epic sweep of the Verve but with plenty of modern production tricks. The influence extends to the vocals, which recall the expansiveness of the Verve's Richard Ashcroft rather than the dreaminess of the Thames Valley shoegaze contingent. A BRIEF HISTORY OF LOVE is a strong, sometimes really, really good debut, and a nice addition to the shoegaze canon.