The Radio Dept. - Clinging To a Scheme (Labrador)

When you think back to definite '80s heavy shoegaze, you think of My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Cocteau Twins, etc. Those artist have such a last impact on indie more than you can imagine. From one listen of Clinging To a Scheme from Swedish shoegaze indie pop band, you can just hear the heavy influence from all those shoegaze giants.

Though most shoegaze is worn out, The Radio Dept.'s third album Clinging To a Scheme revive it with adding more layers of orchestration and cheesy synths with very dramatic beautiful vocal harmonization. "A Token of Gratitude" is just beautiful with layers of endless distortion with such a hazy vocal streaming within the layers of sound, and yet it doesn't get old.

Besides just exploring the shoegaze, The Radio Dept. also goes into more dreamy feels and lazy layers of sound. "Memory Loss" has a very distorted harmonica solo at the end that is accompanied by the very articulate bass. Surprisingly, all the songs on this LP have cheesy synthesizers that would annoy me instantly, but they all blending into that beautiful layer.

"Heaven's On Fire" is probably the greatest track from the album with a very catchy synth part and very exceptional lyrics. "When youth culture becomes monopolized by big business, what are the youth to do?" are the first words from a sample of an interview from someone. It sets the very tenacious sound up that will have anyone playing over and over.

In conclusion, The Radio Dept. does a fantastic job on this album with layering horns in with the keyboards and guitar with drums. It has some really great studio trickery that really catches your attention and will have you listening again and again.

Overall: 8.0

Track Listing:

1. Domestic Scene - 8.0
2. Heaven's On Fire - 9.5 *
3. This Time Around - 6.5
4. Never Follow Suit - 8.5 *
5. A Token of Gratitude - 8.5 *
6. The Video Dept. - 8.0
7. Memory Loss - 8.5 *
8. David - 8.0
9. Four Months In the Shade - 6.5
10. You Stopped Making Sense - 8.5 *

* - Notable Tracks

Sample:

"Heaven's On Fire"