Somehow the kids appear to be into shoegaze again in recent years, yet there hasn’t been all that much in the recent wave that i could really get excited about as most contemporary acts seem perfectly content with creating a pleasant but completely interchangeable bed of light ambient noise to fall asleep in, while lacking the tunes and noise, the punk propulsion and energy of previous generations. A completely different beast though is this second EP of Philadelphia group Mopar Stars, reviving in particular the spirit of the likes of Swervedriver, Pale Saints and early Catherine Wheel while also extending their sonic palette with flourishes of elegant, classic late seventies / early eighties power pop songwriting excellence and not least i’m positively reminded a lot of the early, late-eighties works of UK noise pop act Mega City Four.
