EP review: Graywave – Rebirth

Heaviness can mean different things to different people. For Birmingham songstress Jess Webberley – AKA Graywave – it’s less about chasing the down-tuned devastation pioneered by so many old metal masters from her hometown than dipping, uncensored, into the darker side of her own psyche. Aptly-titled second EP Rebirth may be unlikely to kickstart circle-pits when turned loose in the live arena, but compared to last April’s far hazier debut, Planetary Shift, it is the sound of an artist slipping subtly into darkness, embracing every wraithlike texture on the way down.

The striking Build is an evocative entry point. Propelled by the urgently piercing synth and driving beat at its beginning, the lead-single quickly unspools in a pool of eerie atmospherics, seeming to luxuriate in dislocation: ‘Glimpse your mind / From behind / Outside of your skin / Lost in a spin.’ Afloat on waves of shimmering guitar and throbbing bass, the title-track plumbs even higher drama, evoking shoegaze progenitors like Lush and modern alt idols like Chelsea Wolfe.

It’s not a one-way trip into shadow, mind. Five-minute centrepiece Exoplanet harks back to the Graywave that fans will remember from before, sublimating its tension in a glowing soundscape. But then Red hurls shoves us back in, dragging us deeper than before like quicksand the colour of blood. By (self-explanatory?) final track Closer, it feels like we’ve found a sort of end-credits equilibrium, with the inherent menace of this set of songs finally overwhelmed by its incredible beauty. But Jess can’t resist dropping you, at the very last, back into the void. A promise, perhaps, of even more foreboding moments on the horizon.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: Slowdive, Nothing, DIIV

Rebirth is out now via Church Road