Vacant Gardens - Under The Bloom

New editions of the two Vacant Gardens albums, much needed given the flippers tax being applied in some quarters to the original presses. And more importantly, there's a 7" of two new tracks not available anywhere else. If you missed them on first introduction back in 2020/21, here's the key info - Vacant Gardens are the duo Glenn Donaldson of Reds, Pinks and Purples (and a billion others) formed with vocalist Jem Fanvu, turning out two densely composed and immaculately presented records in quick succession. The pedigree speaks for itself, but there's magic here beyond the sum of its parts. Donaldson is an adaptable and expressive guitarist, his magpie eyes allowing him the dexterity to shift convincingly between styles, and with VG he's channelling late 80s gloom-laden dreampop with a particularly drum-machine driven British bent - think Pale Saints, Slowdive, Lush, early Ride et al. For her part, Fanvu shifts this particular take on noisepop skywards, her vocal oscillating between gossamer delicacy and grandiose melancholia with silky ease. Under the Bloom is charming and obtuse, testing the edges of the collaboration, always at the point of threatening some ecstatic revelation, whereas Obscene seems to bloom outwards in a rapturous blast of shoegaze radiance. The 7", likely recorded at the same time, contains two equally crucial songs, and suggests another album would easily be within the pair's grasp. You know the kind of gold standard shoegaze stuff when you hear it - ineffable sadness that hides the sun. And the thing is, you rarely hear it done this well. Both unusual and immediate in equal measure. Super low quantities on all titles (the 7" in particular - edition of 300), though more copies of the LP due to us next week.