“Suneyes” is the debut track from Big Cove, a Western North Carolina band composed of two metalsmiths, Tiffany and Josh Rhinehart. The fine jewelry makers truly exist as a diamond in the rough- at only 200 monthly listeners on Spotify, the pair have crafted and polished two wonderful shoegaze tracks that hold their own against the mainstream and then some.
Starting with thin, reverbed-out guitars and glistening, delayed vocals, you might think you’re listening to a well-known classic shoegaze band. The first hint that this band has a lot more to offer us comes at about a minute 20 seconds in- the track slows down and comes back in with this pinging synth that brings the energy back. Despite the laid-back vocals and guitar, the track gets a lot of energy from the intricately layered, repeated delays, and this new synth being introduced compels this idea. The ability of the duo to make a laid-back, relaxing-sounding track that, at the same time, is upbeat and makes you want to headbang is what excites me most.
All of this is trying to prepare you for the insanely cool abrupt stop and complete mood shift that takes place 2 minutes into the track. It was at this moment I realized we have gotten a very special and boundary-pushing submission. The beautiful slow vocals leave us- the beat glitches out- and the subtle, exciting energy that the track was hinting at comes out. The guitars get huge- the synth line expands- and the listeners experience euphori,c energetic shoegaze.
Being able to hold your own against huge names in the genre- hint a taste of something more- then seamlessly and uniquely transition your track into this newfound genre pushing sound is incredibly rare. I suspect longtime fans of the genre will gravitate towards this once enough people hear it.
Written by R. Bradley
