Rainwater is a new songwriting project led by Blake Luley, a member of Air Waves who previously recorded solo under the moniker Ajnabi. Their debut album, Swimming is Sunlight, is said to walk the line “between dream pop, traditional singer-songwriter, and post rock”. Recorded over several years and in locations ranging from studio spaces to bathroom floors, the album is an exploration of Luley’s young life in New York, pushing through the bad stuff to find peace and acceptance. As the press release explains:
“[The album charts] the ups, downs, and quiet revelations of Luley’s young adulthood in Brooklyn, NY. Heartbreak, loss, and anxiety give way to newfound love, reconciliation, and hope as the album’s ten songs mark time spent fighting darkness, not in vain.”
Ahead of the release, Luley and Co. have put out the first single, ‘Ditmars’, to whet our appetites and properly introduce their sound. As promised, the track’s dreamy shimmer is cut through with shoegazey percussion and post-rock flourishes, melancholy and hope acting as counterbalances, light and dark swirling through one another in complex patterns.
“You are spots of light and color
swimming across my eyes
when I first step into darknessYou are as real as the memory of day,
couldn’t convince you to stayYou took my sunshine away
You took my light”
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Swimming In Sunlight is out on the 12th of August on CD and cassette via Furious Hooves.
Photo by Patrick Curry