Undoubtedly, that wave of shoegaze bands that came in the late eighties and nineties was much too powerful to fade out that fast. From that moment in the mid-nineties when the movement supposedly deteriorated and Britpop took over, we all knew that it wasn't really over. It's being proven all the time these days, as many of those bands, one by one, they continually keep coming back, release kick-ass records, go on tour and whatnot.
The truth is The Telescopes never really went away for good. Since their 1989 landmark, Taste, they've been returning to action quite often, with the exception of a ten year gap between their self-titled album and Third Wave that came out in 2002. The last time we had heard from them was with their 2013 album, HARM that consisted of two long tracks and was recorded in a single take.
For everyone who's up for some incredibly beautiful abstract shoegazing noise, Hidden Fields has arrived. In some such way 26 years after their breakthrough, the band sounds vibrant again, emerging as mature, anarchic, noise-y and drone-y and dark as hell, having just put out their most addictive record since the nineties. The Telescopes don't play the reunion game, and they don't promote themselves as the old legends from a celebrated time who came back to force our appreciation and cash in on nostalgia. They just play music and release honest records that sometimes come out very daring and often very beautiful. This one is both.
ZR