“New Rules” by Blankenberge

Russia has developed quite a solid shoegaze scene in recent years, thanks to artists like Pinkshinyultrablast, Gnoomes, Your Friends Polymers, Life on Venus, and the Saint Petersburg-based Blankenberge. The foursome, who take their name from a town in Belgium, have just self-released their latest album, Decisions.

“New Rules” is Blankenberge at their best, with lots of shimmery textures and dreamy female vocals courtesy of Yana Guselnikova — as you’d expect from a modern shoegaze song. But the band also incorporates interesting melodic shifts, some emo-y quiet/loud dynamics, and Dmitriy Marakov (bass) and Sergey Vorontsov’s (drums) driving rhythm section.

Decisions is currently available as a digital-only release on Bandcamp.