Sennen: Where the Light Gets In
After their debut mini-album Widows and a couple of singles, the Norwich four-piece Sennen have finally released their first full-length effort Where the Light Gets In. I won’t pretend I wasn’t looking forward to hearing how they had fared during their latest studio sessions - from their university days to playing various venues in their home town to their contract with Hungry Audio, the band had been wearing their shoegazing heart on their collective sleeve while honing their own distinctive sound.
I’ll get the lazy and somewhat unhelpful comparisons out of the way before reviewing the record proper: as the band’s name suggests, they owe much to shoegazing legends such as My Bloody Valentine and especially Ride, a fact that is evident when you consider how things like spacey, jangling guitars and wistful harmonised vocals are present in both this and the early efforts from the old dreampop scene. What matters here though is that Sennen have carved a niche for themselves so the comparisons I’m drawing here have a positive connotation: whether it will garner the same long-term acclaim as the likes of Nowhere I wouldn’t even hazard a guess, but this is still one of the best new UK guitar rock albums you are likely to hear this year.
Hailing from the city of Norwich and combining the shoegazing atmospherics of the likes of Mogwai and My Bloody Valentine with catchy indie melodies, Sennen are a distinctive and very promising new band who have recorded their first full-length album after spending several years playing live to audiences in the local area. Although their live shows have always consisted of compelling melodies wrapped up in walls of tuneful noise their recorded sound brings the vocals to the fore: the energy and power of the songs is not lost but they have taken on a lot more focus, making Widows a surprisingly self-assured and accessible debut.
