Words by Cameron Cook
As a “serious” (please, quiet in the back) music journalist, I refuse to use the term nu-gaze. Do you hear me? REFUSE! The fact that the questionable genre already has its own Wikipedia page leaves me with a slight feeling of nausea. Wasn’t shoe-gaze blatantly invented by the NME when Ride first came out, anyway? So what do you call something that’s directly derived from something that didn’t exist in the first place? Glasvegas?
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Knight School, School of Seven Bells, A Place to Bury Strangers, et al., while being close musical cousins, are all stylistically different, and Brooklyn’s ZAZA are high up there with their noisy brethren in our esteem. We first experienced ZAZA live when they played ‘SUP‘s Issue 19 release party at, coincidentally, the Cameo in Williamsburg, and we were immediately taken aback. Live, as well as on record, ZAZA create a feel, an ambiance, full of soft tones and complimentary overwhelming texture. Backlit by floodlights, ZAZA’s lead vocalist Danny and bassist/backing vocalist Jenny are accompanied by both a drum machine and percussionist Dru, components that are indispensable to both ZAZA’s performance and their debut release on Kanine Records, the Cameo EP. The drums and percussion the band bring are unreal, and cut through the beautiful fracas made by both Danny’s guitars swaths and Jenny’s expert, pulsating basslines to drive everything forward. It’s what makes it impossible to confine them to something like nu-gaze–it’s already something different.
One of Cameo‘s greatest moments happens during the last minute of “Always On”, where Danny’s plaintive vocal is almost completely lost in the swirl, but other tracks like “Repetition” (which would easily fit in any ’80s-lover’s collection between the Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen) and album close “Faith in the Faithless” (which comes on like a demented, organic Depeche Mode) are also highlights.
Basically, what we’re saying is, set your preconceptions aside, don’t believe the hype, and get into Cameo‘s nooks and crannies. Like Jenny’s steely gaze piercing you from the album sleeve, it’s intense (Kanine Records, 2009).
