Pia Fraus After Summer

I've never visited Estonia, I've never met an Estonian and, until stumbling upon the shoegaze-y sounds of Pia Fraus, I'd never voluntarily listened to a note of music originating in this Baltic nation.

Indeed, prior to scanning the country's Wikipedia entry ten minutes ago, I could have happily scribbled down my entire knowledge of Estonia's history and culture on the back of a postage stamp. (Capital = Tallinn, Famous person = er, Mart Poom?)

The Estonia I (don't really) know is the kind of place where dismal England teams drop points in vital European Championship qualifiers; I never imagined young musicians listening to battered old copies of Loveless and forming shoegaze bands there. It turns out that this does happen. In fact, having had the chance to quietly develop their sound away from spotlight, Pia Fraus might just be the best band I've heard in this genre since Danish dream-poppers Rumskib a couple of years back.

My introduction to Pia Fraus came courtesy of a chance encounter with recent single, Mute The Birds, a split 7" with German musician Ulrich Schnauss; the record just happened to be in the right place at the right time when I wanted to test my new turntable. The artwork suggested ambient electronica but, much to my delight, my room was soon filled with gorgeous, ethereal dream-pop. I soon forgot all about my turntable and dug out my dusty CD promo copy of After Summer. New gadgets are fantastic, don't get me wrong, but the thrill of discovering a great new band trumps just about everything in my book.

Sonically, After Summer sounds a little different to the 7" version of Mute The Birds. It's clearer, brighter, and perhaps even a touch more commercial sounding; yet the overall feel is very organic. It doesn't sound like a sterile Pro-Tools recording – it's much too vibrant for that – and Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake should be congratulated for the excellent job he's done in producing this album.

Springsister gets After Summer off to a cracking start. The hushed male/female vocal harmonies will inevitably force comparisons to My Bloody Valentine but this is much more pop; check out that insanely cheerful organ if you don't believe me. Yenissey is dreamier and more repetitive. The organ makes another welcome appearance but the taut percussion work is the real key to this track's success. No wonder Seksound recently released a CD compiling ten remixes of this song. With its sprightly intro riff and cheerful organ, Sailing Yes is another immediate favourite, demonstrating that dream-pop and shoegaze doesn't have to be super-serious.

Mute The Birds makes a welcome appearance towards the end of the disc and I have to say, as much I love the Ulrich Schnauss version, it sounds even better here. Again, I'm moved to think of Kevin Shields and his contributions to the Lost In Translation OST; come to think of it, Mute The Birds has a real cinematic quality that would have been perfect for that film.

After Summer is actually Pia Fraus' fourth album, which makes a lot of sense. There's a definite sense of maturity evident here and the album covers a great deal of sonic territory without ever sounding forced or gimmicky. I know I'm going to be investigating the band's back catalogue and the Estonian music scene in general. If I'm able to unearth an artist with even half the talent of Pia Fraus it will have been well worth the effort.

If you'd like to do the same, why not start your search by visiting the Seksound website? Go on, you know you want to.