Coming off a three-year hiatus, Stellar Ruins debuts their next single, "Serene Lullabies." It arrives from Oxnard, California, the band's home base, and it is the kind of brash reintroduction to the world of shoegaze and dream pop, one that sees the band evolving not only sonically but also philosophically. Produced by the heavy metal act Night Demon's Armand John Anthony, "Serene Lullabies" is where swirling melancholy kisses post-pandemic introspection. It's a song composed of gentle acoustic guitar strums that are drawn into a hazy cloud of fuzz-soaked riffs.
Gentle electric cello swells are transformed into a fierce, driving force, accompanied by a kick drum. And at the heart of it all is the lead singer, Christopher Yanez, whose distorted, tape-echo-soaked voice sounds like a ghost both questing for and giving in to the static of modern life. "Serene Lullabies" wallows in a place where you stand still on the inside, a divide in the road where you ask yourself the question of where and why. But Stellar Ruins is never lost in despair. Instead, they distill it into texture, into sound, into the kind of thing that you feel humming in your bones long after the track is over.
The band's shoegaze DNA remains intact, but it has been reimagined through a dystopian lens, fittingly, given the uncertainty the world has navigated since their last album. This is a haze, but underneath there's warmth to be found. There's a heart beneath the noise. It's that duality that makes "Serene Lullabies" so resonant. It's not a song so much as a journey, a cinematic dance through emotional static, with every reverb-soaked chord pick and drum fill painting a picture of gorgeous unease.
In a crowded field, where musical acts cover up as wallpaper, Stellar Ruins keeps clawing up soundscapes that require your attention. "Serene Lullabies" is a return, a lavishly textured piece that both soothes and unsettles. It may have taken three years, but it was worth the wait, clearly. Stellar Ruins aren't only back, they're writing new volumes in the dream pop and shoegaze story, one reverb-drenched wail at a time.
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