Not long until the entirely unexpected new Belong album arrives (i.e. next week; be aware), so a good time to revisit one of THE great records of the past 20 or so years. Innovative straight out the gate it might have been, but not a great deal has been added to the sonic possibilities of shoegaze/dreampop since its late 80s/early 90s imperial era (think Flying Saucer Attack, AR Kane, MBV obviously), a sound so easily codified and assimilated it's almost become a shorthand for any new guitar-orientated pop music. Common Era hit different, a greyscale rush of blasted dynamics, drum-machine trudge and heavenly longing that's equal parts sensual, romantic and utterly doomed. In reality, it's probably more gothic than dreampop, a Leeds-scene band locked into the chorus pedal void, though the buried-deep vocals and tidal wave wash of synth do feel overtly introverted in all the ways that makes shoegaze so appealing to those of a certain inward-looking disposition. Mostly, though, what makes Common Era so compelling is the internal private universe it inhabits, a vortex-like record so easy to be drawn into that's both deceptively accessible and repeatedly rewarding. I've never been able to work out exactly what's being sung here, meaning secondary to feeling in its gloomy glossolalia, which is exactly as it should be - the mystery is the seduction, the murmuring of nothing sweet in your ear. The sun might be cracking the pavement today, but there's always misery to be celebrated. There's few better soundtracks to doing so.