Album Review: Glass Towers - Halcyon Days

Glass Towers frontman Ben Hannam envisioned this album as a kind of portal to youth – a way to transport listeners back to that fresh, butterflies-in-your-tummy excitement of being a teenager. Filled with the calypso hums of shoegaze guitars and Hannam's own flighty vocals, the album is a fairy-flossed nostalgic wonderland, which trips across late night house parties and puppy love escapades.

Each song, though embracing the band's penchant for ambient fuzz-pop, stands alone, managing to skirt around that dreaded same-sameness that permeates most indie-pop albums these days.

Opener In This City begins with a fitting rushed guitar crescendo, before Hannam launches into the hymn-like chant, “I loved you from the start”. Halcyon is bathed in a calypso mist – a blistering summer tune, custom made for a festival atmosphere – being large, lush and layered, with Hannam's youthful drawl shifting seamlessly between his chest and floaty head voice.

Foreign Time slows things right down, putting the brakes on the synths and embellishing the hum of those shoegaze guitars. A darker '80s vibe permeates Lust For Life, with steady drums and distorted vocals, while the piano driven You're Better pounds the bass like an anthem to march along to. Griffin meanwhile ramps up the drums and bass, dropping a Mad Hatter dance-around-the-house-in-your-underwear vibe.

It's everything Hannam could've hoped for and so much more – a fast, playful, addictive and only marginally introspective trip down memory lane. It's distinctly 'poppy' without being saccharine and will make you want to throw an old school house party just for old times' sake.