California’s Cherry Glazerr kind of blew up after their last full length Apocalipstick dropped a couple of years ago, making us wonder how they could top the brazen release. With their latest album Stuffed & Ready, they take inward feelings and blast them out, forcing anyone waiting for an album for the disaffected, should get overwhelmed with a sound that’s so much more than what the genre has offered before.

The whole album takes sonic heaviness of shoegaze and lifts it with a mixture that’s pedal drenched and full of riffs that take it some place else. The opener “Ohio” has touches of shoegae in its structuring, but the snarling guitar and the snappy drums lift it up, placing it closer to nineties alternative rock, or at least fuzzy indie rock. The way the guitars sound like they’re recorded live is a nice touch that gives the music an extra filament of heft. This continues throughout the record. “Daddi” could be a dream pop song if it stayed closer to how it begins, but it quickly goes to a heavier place with its brooding lyrics and searing guitar tones.

“Wasted Nun” hits all of those indie rock notations that make you a fan of the genre, “Juicy Socks” has moments of fuzz fueled indie pop while “Stupid Fish” sounds like it’s being played through a blown amplifier once owned by Miki Berenyi. Of course as wonderful as these Big Muff clicked notes sound, there’s more to this record when the idea of genre doesn’t come into play. “That’s Not My Real Life” has Brit pop pieces that come together in a shoegaze format, but aren’t like modern shoegaze at the same time. “Isolation” feels dark and introspective, offering a weighted and murky sound that steers your car towards the cliffs. In fact, the song picks up pace but still plays as dark and close to post-punk in its overall sound. The entire release is flourishing with tones and pedal use, it never seems to turn off, and you’re left wanting more when it reaches its end.

You can stream Stuffed & Ready on all streaming sites, you can purchase it in all online music stores, or you can pick it up physically in multiple formats and bundles directly from Secretly Canadian. Cherry Glazerr is on tour in the U.S. beginning April 22 in Phoenix, AZ at The Van Buren until June 14 in Manchester, TN for Bonnaroo. A complete list of their tour dates can be found here. 

Image Credits: Photo by Pamela Littky.