By Cody Englander, Copy Editor

[Atlantic Records; 2024]

Rating: 7/10

Key Tracks: “catalogue,” “very little effort,” “ feminine adornments”

Calling an album that sounds so current “out of time” feels strange, but as we stray further and further from post-covid music, my anti-aircraft friend seems like a product of a different era. This makes sense because julie’s first song was conceived in April of 2020, titled “flutter.” It’s a song that can be interpreted as a project from the early pandemic, and is strong for a first song because it focuses on loneliness and seclusion, a reoccuring theme for the band.

julie is a part of a newer and more modern shoegaze movement. julie’s sound is similar of Panchiko’s D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L with a less hopeless and lingering voice, while also being a product of a post tik-tokified music. The lyrics don’t complete thoughts, they’re more a mess of a poem. In the song “very little effort,” a dreary combination of incomplete thoughts make up the track. Even though the thoughts are sporadic, lines like, “Give in little effort / ‘Cause while you sit and drink yourself / you never would have let her,” help capture a youthful melancholy from a darkly lit room. my anti-aircraft friend is incredible at achieving a tone throughout the 40 minute runtime. 

Read more: Album Review: COIN – I’m Not Afraid Of Music Anymore

This understands the shoegaze appeal and modernizes it for a young adult audience. While the band has released a number of singles and EPs, this is their first full length album, and its welcome is never overstayed. With such an appeal for younger audiences, faster paced albums seem to be more and more common, this being one of those examples. While this has always been a commonality in music, the trend drips into a genre it shouldn’t. 

Another shoegaze album is Xinlisupreme’s Tomorrow Never Comes, which plays with song length. While it’s not lyrical, the tone lingers, one of the reasons it’s so highly regarded. Shoegaze is a genre based upon lingering feelings, emotions that can’t help but hold on to you. It’s a genre that doesn’t hit you over the head, it seeps into your skin. my anti-aircraft friend shifts into a softer subgenre of shoegaze, and lingers in a different way, something that recalls the recent past of the listener, making it seem regrettable, and trapped in another era, but it passes quicker than it lingers. 

As much as the songs are short, the music’s repetitiveness works in a way that other shoegaze albums need twice the length to. While it’s modernized, the fusion of genre makes for a really special sound, and gives light to their artistry. The vocal performance here by Alexandria Elizabeth (the vocalist and bassist) is the standout. Her voice perfectly summarizes what the album is about. They’ve become one of the more exciting young shoegaze bands, and are someone to keep an eye on in the future.

my anti-aircraft friend primarily works best as a capsule of the modern shoegaze genre, and operates as a good album second. This isn’t to say it’s not a good album, solely that it’s more interesting than a project to constantly revisit. 

Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/album/14SJbJMseOJ2W8HlWLwNgJ?si=DPjBpy3DTeWCxTolJxHXjA