A Wake-Up Call For Eager Lovers is the debut album by Karenin's Smile the solo project of Seth Saunar-Pedersen from Frontier Days and Edith Pike who is based in Los Angeles and recorded at home, the album was mixed by Nick Panella. They shouldn't be confused with the Karenin's Smiles based in Peterborough or Detroit.
The album opens with the synths washing over you on Wake that feels like you are in a deep cocoon of strings, synths and all the reverb your love can handle first thing in the morning. Temporary builds the shimmering guitars and standard slightly indistinct shoegaze vocals, giving the impression of a Temporary love affair that passes quicker than this albums 24 minutes length.
Lull has the lovers taking a breather, allowing the sound to wash over them, jangling guitars acting as aphrodisiacs, while the bassline seems to get darker and more intuitive, allowing the drums to act more as decoration than driving beat.
Antipathy is what I felt trying to read Tolstoy's novels, one of the few Russian greats I didn't love, this song however brings Antipathy through the medium of landfill shoegaze guitars and rhythms, this sounds so achingly familiar yet new, they just about pull it off with the way the central guitar pattern weaves its way through the ennui of adding all that reverb to the vocals once more. He'll eventually figure out where he stands hopefully.
For Without sounds like Karamasov but with vocals, this has synth shifts and an almost motorik drum beat to go with the downbeat vocals, moping about how hard life will be without your love for company. The album closes with Just For Show that stays at the same pace as the rest of the album and carries on wondering how to make the guitar shimmer or jangle in ways that might be original enough to stand out, while just sounding like loads of other shoe and nu gaze bands.
Find out more at https://dandyboyrecords.bandcamp.com/album/a-wake-up-call-for-eager-lovers https://www.facebook.com/sethsaunar
