Already three years ago, at the time of the publication of the acclaimed “Ultra Truth”, we presented Daniel Avery on these pages as a talented electronic producer in love with and great connoisseur of the world of rock music. As a teenager he played in small garage bands that looked to the stoner and shoegaze experiences of the past, and he has often collaborated with musicians who adore the borderlands, just look at the project cohabited with Alessandro Cortini (“Illusion Of Time”) dating back to 2020. The stylistic intersections are an aspect that does not go unnoticed when listening to his works, even more so when listening to “Tremor”, the chapter that definitively shifts the axis of Avery's music from electronic towards unspecified boundaries of “rock made with guitars”. Avery, gifted with extraordinary skills, thus demonstrates his ability to deal with EDM with ease, competence and mastery, as well as the territories that lean towards the dark side of new wave, both the ambient rarefactions and the walls of sound that characterize the nu-gaze aesthetic: a path that follows in the footsteps of Trentemoller, another artist who gradually moved from the console to the stages rock oriented.
Thick again parterre of the guests, but while in “Ultra Truth” i featuring remained relegated to the electro field (Kelly Lee Owens, HAAi, AK Paul, Sherelle, Jonnine, James Messiah), this time – as if wanting to give authority to their evolutionary choices – the contributions come mainly from artists from the indie area. The two cases that have attracted attention are those of Alison Mosshart, who ennobles the dark spirals in which “Greasy Off The Racing Line” is immersed, and of Ellie Rowsell, good at soaring among the guitars of “Haze”, which wander around stoner and nu-metal. The dilated movements of “Neon Pulse” act as an ethereal instrumental preface for the dream-pop of “Rapture in Blue”, with the guitars of Andy Bell of Ride and the voice of Cecile Believe, an artist with solid roots in the world of PC music. The changing wave features of “A Silent Shadow” are instead the result of the collaboration with bdrmm (the recent electro breakthrough of the English group, perfected with “Microtonic”, would have been influenced by Avery, with whom they shared some live dates), while “New Life” (with the Irish singer yunè pinku, some active presences in dance chart British) maintains cadences from clubwhile integrating industrial-derived sounds.
The deluge of synths and guitars is confirmed in “The Ghost Of Her Smile” (here the singing parts are entrusted to Julie Dawson, voice, guitar and main songwriter of NewDad), while Yeule adds a “frontier” touch to “Disturb Me”. But where Daniel Avery wins the game is on the difficult and super-saturated nu-gaze terrain, trod in particular in the doublet formed by “In Keeping” (together with Walter Schreifels, another cult of the independent circuit) and the following “Tremor”, the most exciting and unexpected moment of the album, closes the work with “I Feel You”, shared with Art School Girlfriend, singer-songwriter, musician and producer Welsh, who loves to oscillate between electronic, pop, indie-rock and shoegaze, just like Daniel Avery. Enlightened minds come together to create music without objective boundaries, capable of conquering the hearts of both post ravers and nu-gazers. The sound mixing was entrusted to Alan Moulder and David Wrench, the mastering to Heba Kadry. The album is released on the historic Domino label: Più indie like this…
26/11/2025
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM
