Chicago-based shoegaze group
Airiel
's first major statement wasn't their full-length debut, but a series of four EPs issued by
Clairecords
throughout 2003 and 2004. The four installments of
Winks & Kisses
(
Frosted
,
Dizzy
Melted
, and
Crackled
) established the band's lush, wistful style of dreamy indie pop, proving the group to be experts at creating aquatic washes of sound as well as heart-on-sleeve lyrics. The band's noisier, more abrasive efforts include the breezy, blown-out "Kiss Me Slowly," which marries
Galaxie 500
-like vocals with a Madchester-esque rhythm and a gale of guitars, and the tense, clattering "Jeanette," which nearly could've fit on
My Bloody Valentine
's
Isn't Anything
. Elsewhere, there are gentler, more spacious, and sometimes downright romantic songs like "Halo" (one of each EP's tracks to stretch out around ten minutes) and the late-era
Cocteau Twins
-reminiscent "Firefly." The blissful reverie "Sharron Apple" (later re-recorded for 2017's
Molten Young Lovers
) would be a career highlight for most bands, but it isn't even the best song from
. That would be the tremendous "In Your Room," which resembles an ecstatically happy cousin of
Ride
's "Vapour Trail," and has reached a comparable cult status among shoegaze fans. Rounding out the final EP, "Where It Belongs" is crushingly heavy in an addictive way, and the swirling "Shirley Temple Tidal Wave" is comforting in its gloominess.
is a highlight of shoegaze's second wave.
[In 2023,
Feeltrip Records
released a 20th anniversary deluxe remastered edition of
. All four EPs are expanded to a full disc each, with the addition of demos and unreleased material. The demos date back to the group's 1997 formation, and the early versions of the EP tracks generally aren't fundamentally different than the more cleaned-up final versions, showing how the group established their core sound on arrival, then simply improved from there. Many of the previously unreleased songs are instrumentals and textural workouts, along with a few rough, noisy experiments like "Ventilator" and the harshly beautiful "Wasteland Cupid." Even when it sounds like
are trying out a half-developed idea or getting some aggression out of their system, the results still sound uncommonly lovely.] ~ Paul Simpson