German based band Felt combines various styles of alternative music into a sound that they refer to as “shoegaze noise goth.” As the name suggests, they combine elements of shoegaze, noise, and goth music, but their music also features elements of other heavy and alternative genres into a unique sound featuring heavy distorted textures and strong vocals. All of these things are exemplified in their debut album Saturnine.
With a runtime of around 34 minutes across 8 tracks, the album manages to get across the band’s unique style and show off their diverse talents while keeping the listener’s attention and avoiding overstaying its welcome. The first track “Antlers” begins with guitar feedback that sets the tone for the more noisy elements of the album before the track introduces a catchy alt-rock-inspired guitar riff. The lead vocals come in shortly after with a clean tone from a strong female vocalist. The overall production throughout the album stays clean and professional with a commercially friendly sound while maintaining aspects of experimentation and noise in a similar manner to bands such as Sonic Youth. One aspect that I really liked in this song was the guitar tone, especially with the lead guitar sounding distorted, noisy, and high-pitched yet not too harsh.
The second track titled “Knew You Then” features a prominent bassline that really drives the song forward. The vocals continue with their clean sound while incorporating some more breathy and haunting sounds. Track 3, “Gemini” begins with a clean guitar tone with a slight delay that helps set the mood for the song before getting into the distorted and noisy guitar tone seen in previous songs. The chorus features a strong and heavy guitar riff showing some influences of heavy alternative and metal music. The next song “Arcadia” begins with only bass and a light synth playing before reintroducing the band’s noise goth sound. The lead guitars return with guitar solos and an intentional use of guitar feedback to build up the atmosphere.
“Dungeon Deep” begins with this feedback drenched guitar sound and once again features a prominent bassline reminiscent of post punk and goth rock music. The bridge of the track features a distant sound to the vocals that feels almost haunting before the song goes into a guitar solo. Track 6, “Smile at Strangers” begins a bit differently from the other tracks, this time starting with a solo drum track. I also feel that this song had a slightly darker tone than other songs on the album.
Track 7, entitled “Sirens” is one of my personal favourite tracks on the album. It begins with a heavy shoegaze and old-school metal-inspired guitar riff that really hooked me on the first listen. The vocal melody also felt particularly strong to me on this track. The eighth and final track “The Pull” is the longest track on the album and feels like a perfect climax to the album. It begins in softer moments that lead to heavier guitars and lead guitars that in a way remind me of 2000s post-hardcore bands such as Thursday. The guitar solo towards the end is arguably the best on the album and continues to feature the more experimental approach similar to Tom Morello’s guitar playing in Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave.
This album overall manages to keep a coherent sound throughout, which is impressive for a band that is just starting out. They combine styles across the alternative rock spectrum into a sound that is uniquely their own. I would recommend the album to fans of shoegaze and noise rock bands such as My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth as well as to alternative rock fans in general. I look forward to seeing more from them and where they can go from here. You can purchase the album on Bandcamp HERE! To further follow their work, follow them on Instagram @felt.de, Facebook, and YouTube!
Written by Naomi Niemiec
