Aluminum - Fully Beat LP

Aluminum - Fully Beat LP (Felte/USA)

If this was a fine wine, I would describe their notes as buttery like melancholy backbone of Swervedriver, the honeyed middle years of My Bloody Valentine, Neneh Cherry-like, a bitter bite of The Fall, and all together creating something that Gen X will recognize as sounding like the golden age of 120 Minutes.

They Say:

The relatively short life of San Francisco’s Aluminum has so far yielded a single (Spinning Backwards, 2020) and an EP (Windowpane, 2022), but their debut LP, Fully Beat, overflows with tenured confidence and a singular style that deftly comprises shoegaze, big beat, and jangle pop. With influences ranging from Orbital, to Wipers, to The Avalanches and Sly and the Family Stone, theirs is a multifaceted take on established forms, fed through fuzz and led by honeyed, dual vocal harmonies from Bay Area post-punk veterans Marc Leyda (of Wild Moth) and Ryann Gonsalves (of Torrey).

“Smile” begins with deceptive sparseness, adding neon swirls of stacked tremolo over a mesmerizing lyrical refrain, and hinting at the dynamism to come with understated grace and grit. “Always Here, Never There” is Fully Beat’s first pure hit of melodic pop: its liquid bass groove winds beneath a melancholy-sweet synth hook and Leyda’s plaintive vocals, while drummer Chris Natividad’s deep, pillowy snare and propulsive style maintain a driving pace.

Lead single, “Behind My Mouth”, shifts gears into a big beat shuffle and howl of overdriven guitars, which relent to Gonsalves’ rolling bassline and playful, snarky vocal. Composed across several weeks of experimentation, it is a prime iteration of Aluminum’s meticulous world of sound, which nevertheless carries an air of wry nonchalance. Asking, “Do you ever see behind my mouth?”, Gonsalves notes that the song “comes from a place of wanting to be understood authentically, and to communicate intentionally.”

This approach speaks to the album’s broader theme of exhaustion amid the demands of the modern grind: working unfulfilling jobs to pay exorbitant rent, feeling society break at the seams, and trying to maintain a meaningful personal life with the remaining scraps of morale. The response, then, must be to find joy. These songs were crafted over a half-dozen months in basements and practice spaces, creating an abundance of authentic passion and catharsis that’s as nostalgic and comforting as a cherished, tattered band t-shirt.

“HaHa” glides on a stripped-back arrangement of hallucinogenic, filtered guitar and hand percussion, while the foreground belongs to Gonsalves’ wistful, taut vocal interplay, reminiscent of early Veruca Salt. “Pulp” follows with a roaring eruption, highlighting the band’s ability to simply rip, its blistering rush like a shriek across the sky that leaves a smoking crater under guitarist Austin Montanari’s stratified storm.

Second single, “Beat”, brings a steady, mid-tempo pulse that nods to Happy Mondays, with a rhythm section and hazy guitars that blend beautifully into lo-fi bliss under the hypnotic, counterpoint coo of both singers. The shimmering “Everything” pairs long-tail strums and an exuberant pace with complex, yet beautifully breezy, vocal arrangements. It marks the summit of Fully Beat’s pop tendencies: a tight performance smeared with lush effects, rounded out by diligent mixing that still allows a buoyant haze.

“Call An Angel” ushers in the final act with a contrast of clattering drums, wobbling guitars and narcotic vocal delivery. The swell of a string section counters its experimental methods, offering a sense of resolute longing, and embodying the band’s dedication to creating different energies within a consistent atmosphere.

The closer, “Upside Down”, is a full-throttle blare of joyous release – “a straight-up love song,” according to Leyda. The deliberate choice to end it with a gradual fade, rather than a dramatic climax, smartly suggests the ambivalence of acceptance – perhaps fitting, when considering the immensity of the album’s subject matter. It also hints that there is much more to be said, and as such a rich and compelling debut, Fully Beat shows that Aluminum are only getting started.