Salient

Where Salient takes a look at an album that was out of sync with the prevailing musical zeitgeist at the time of its release, but has managed to gain new lustre with the benefit of retrospect.

2008: Moscow Olympics – Cut the World (Lavender Recordings)

Few genres can be as thankless for bands to enter into as shoegaze. After all, it’s widely accepted that My Bloody Valentine perfected the form with Loveless back in ‘91, effectively rendering the efforts of all future wannabe shoegazers an exercise in futility by default. And that’s where Moscow Olympics come in. With 2008’s Cut the World this unheralded Filipino outfit created perhaps the finest post-Loveless shoegaze album, almost two decades after the genre was supposed to have run out of breath.

Paradoxically, Moscow Olympics’ success is largely down to their ditching of the obligatory Kevin Shields fuzz tone, opting instead for a clean, New Order-inspired, fast strum, ably supported by airy keyboards and melodic bass leads. It makes for a delightful dream-pop template, and in 7 songs spread concisely over 28 minutes there isn’t a single wasted note. Sure, you could call it an anachronism, but Cut the World is so flawless that to ignore it would be the far graver crime.

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