Normally SUBPOP is the label of choice for harder work, but not in the case of Heron Oblivion from San Francisco, although you’ll hear loud guitars. The members of this band are not exactly what you call newbies. All of them were in several bands before (from psych rock to folk), and you those many years of experience on this album. The mesmerizing indie rock can be best described as a cross-pollination of the romantic dark indie pop of Mazzy Star and the apocalyptic post-rock of Explosions in The Sky. The music is dominated by the heavenly vocals of Meg Baird, who already released several solo albums.
This CD is certainly not an easy slab, as you have to let the compositions wash over you. Some pieces are quite long: everything is builds up quietly, and it ends up with an explosion of shoegaze guitars.
Folk music (or something like that) brought with deafening guitars. No, you can torture us for hours, we do not think that we can come up with a band that does what Heron Oblivion does. A band of which we will surely hear more!