Album review: Mondaze – Late Bloom

Look up the artsy Italian town of Faenza and you will find that the hottest attraction is the International Museum Of Ceramics. It makes strange sense, then, that amid the glazed earthenware and drawn-out evenings that local shoegazers Mondaze should be drawn to gain-stacked melodies, cascading drums and seismic detonations of fuzz. At full volume, their debut Late Bloom seems designed to demolish crockery and eardrums alike.

Formed in 2016 by friends Matteo Vandelli (guitar/vocals), Margherita Mercatali (guitar) and drummer Michele Leonardi, Mondaze spent a year cocooned in their rehearsal space dreaming up hazy songs with the force of a wrecking ball before stepping out into the world. That close bond is keenly felt on Honest Feelings as the wall of distortion and hardcore beats suddenly drops away, leaving Red Capacci’s Cure-esque bassline to provide ballast for Margherita’s luminous arpeggios. Everything feels intuitive. At their most rapturous on Endless, the four members sound like they’re pushing each other to play bolder and brighter with each fuzz-drenched verse.

Frustratingly, that intimacy at the heart of Mondaze can sometimes come across as cold and distant when Matteo shrouds his wispy vocals. It works for Words Undone, a man waiting on one end of a phone line, the hum of static and screes of guitar the only response they get. But elsewhere, it is easy to feel stranded among the tsunami swells of reverb. ‘I feel lost in a galaxy of thoughts,’ Matteo mumbles on Lost. It’s a shame that in songs that ache for connection, he should hide himself away.

These are minor quibbles, though, from an otherwise beguiling album. For anyone who has ever wondered what Fugazi jamming with Slowdive would sound like, check out How Soon Is Soon?, then wonder at what sweet crashing noise Mondaze will conjure next.

Verdict: 3/5

For fans of: Slow Crush, My Bloody Valentine, NOTHING.

Late Bloom is released on December 10 via Church Road