Album Review: Firekites - Closing Forever Sky

Newcastle outfit Firekites have crafted a heady collection of shoe-gazing indie-rock. There is beautiful tension between an accessible sound and a mostly through-composed style, with satisfyingly melodic guitar lines anchoring the shifting structures that take surprising turns, but with a clear emotional centre. The title track and The Counting are particular highlights for this. Hushed vocals let the textures speak for themselves, as the washes of keyboards, layered guitar parts and strings are pushed and pulled by the quietly driving drums. This is an album to get lost in.