This is the debut album from Los Angeles duo The Roogs who used to be one half of Four Way Cross a Goth band who managed to pass me by totally. The press release namechecks a few good influences but none of them are the one that struck me most of all while listening to the album which is Opal/Clay Alison.
The album opens with Wildebeest a slow song with some far more upbeat lyrics than the vocals actual sound, with almost hints of Angelfish but with more of a textural sound to the percussive elements.
I Still See You has a claustrophobic feel with almost deep-sea sonar sound pulse driving it along as this tale of loss unfolds in a way reminiscent of latter period Synth led Japan songs.
It's Own Good is where the album really takes off for me with guitars and drums set to sound like they are reverb heavy, in an Opal Fell From The Sun kind of way, all it's missing is some vocals, either way this is a tune I had to turn up almost as soon as it comes on.
Daydream is more like the slower end of Opal's output and Courtney Davies vocals sound a lot like Kendra Smith's but they have more of a modern drum sound, this is a perfect song for couples to chill out too together.
Decoration uses an Indian Raga influenced motif in the way The Creatures sometimes did to make a bewitching piece of dark dancefloor goth instrumental music.
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Sidestep has some rather elastic bass for this dark tale of betrayal punctuated by a very cool guitar line and synth sounds that again recall Japan but with vocals more like April Coombs from Arson Garden on Kathy's In Deep.
Approaching Storm is full of atmospherics as the sky goes dark, the wind starts to pick up and a sense of impending doom takes over as the bass punches you deep in the guts as you try to take shelter as the pulses keep this instrumental going as we head into the storm.
Then as long as you buy the album through Bandcamp, the album closes with the best song on the album, the wondrous Forty Versions that has Courtney sounding as close to Kendra Smith as possible on a song that could have been an out-take from Five Ways Of Disappearing, to say I love this song is an understatement, I doubled the volume on it during my first listen and have just done the same again.
Find out more and buy it from Bandcamp for the bonus song from https://theroogs.bandcamp.com/album/the-roogs https://www.facebook.com/theRoogs
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