Led Astray Washed Ashore - EP

iTunes Review

Somewhere in between Tamaryn's 2009 Led Astray Washed Ashore EP and her 2010 debut album The Waves the San Francisco singer became a shoegaze revivalist. Where the latter leans on the dreamy, the former is a more shadowy affair. This six song EP opens with "Return to Surrender" sounding like an ‘80s 4AD signing with its darkened nods to Clan of Xymox, Pale Saints and backing musicians culled from the band Vue, who approximate the semi-gothic chill of This Mortal Coil. Before Tamaryn clung to the more breathy coos heard on The Waves, here she sings in a lower register — check out "Sarah In The Aeadrone" where she croons like Xmal Deutschland's Anja Huwe as her band recall Disintegration-era the Cure. "Golden Song" is a similarly haunting tune where Tamaryn inflects with a demure cool over the cold pulse of slowed tribal rhythms. If the wistful "Ashore" doesn't make your inner teenager curse society, the seductive "Metal Beasts" could easily induce a phantom-itch compulsion to flick the died-black bangs out of your eyes.