New Music: Silk – Auralux

Building on the success of his previous band, Virgins, Michael Smyth’s Silk are set to make a massive impact with the title track of their new EP.

Silk’s music has been described as ‘heavy gaze’ and you can hear that in how the opening Cocteau Twins tones of the intro give way to something with weight in the guitars and percussion, both of which are far from effects-laden other than volume and reverb. In terms of structure, Auralux is more in tune with Pixies than, say, Slowdive; at times doomy but always direct – more steel than silk, in fact. As a genre, shoegaze has been around for quite some time: Auralux lets us know that it still has new things to say.

Says Smyth about the rationale behind the sound of the track and the upcoming mini-album, ‘There is no beauty in perfection; it feels fake and manufactured to me. I want the record to feel real, so this is the sound of visceral self-expression.”

Silk tour Ireland and the UK in May and June, including dates in Dublin, Cork, Belfast, London, Brighton, and Edinburgh. The band will also appear at the Dublin and Belfast legs of GazeFest on the 28th and 29th of August.

Auralux is released on the 7th of May via Blowtorch Records (vinyl) and Shoredive Records (CD) and can be pre-ordered as a limited-edition vinyl version on Bandcamp. Head to Facebook and Instagram for streaming options, tour new, and music updates.