“Fountainhead” by Swan•seas

The boys in Milan’s Swan•seas sound a little out of time. As evidenced by the shimmering guitars, propulsive rhythms, and yearning vocals that spread into every possible corner of “Fountainhead” — the longest track on the quartet’s debut album, Songs in the Key of Blue — Swan•seas sound like they’d be at home at the height of the mid-’90s shoegaze craze as much as anywhere else.

Indeed, it’s easy to imagine them sharing the stage with Ride and Catherine Wheel at the height of their ’90s glory, though Swan•seas’ other songs make it clear that they’re not afraid to experiment with the bounds and forms of shoegaze, for better or worse. Songs in the Key of Blue boasts plenty of solid hooks (e.g., “Frosted Glass,” “Fuzzy Feeling”) though it does meander a bit towards the end. (“Such a Drag” proves to be a bit self-descriptive as it nears and then crosses the five-minute mark.)

Still, Songs in the Key of Blue provides ample proof that this new generation of ‘gazers, which also includes the likes of Glixen, Life on Venus and She’s Green, are still finding new ways to bliss out to classic-sounding atmospherics.

Songs in the Key of Blue is currently available from Shore Dive Records.