What a treat to find this CD in this month’s stack. Every time I think I’ve heard it all before, a band like this surfaces. During the height of ’90s shoegaze, this band somehow went under the radar, possibly because this record came out late in the game, or possibly because they were from Tempe, Ariz. None of that matters now. It’s all here for our listening pleasure. This CD starts out with the lush jangle, “Shell Life,” sounding like a precursor to the majority of the bands on Captured Tracks and Mexican Summer. There’s a definite nod to bands like Catherine Wheel, Ride, and Slowdive but with more clarity. Most shoegaze bands saturate everything in delay and reverb. Half String has more clarity in their recordings—for instance, you can understand the lyrics. They teeter more on an alternative ’90s sound, at times sounding similar to Teenage Fanclub, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, or Luna. The packing on this CD is pretty amazing. It’s in an oversized case, like a collectable postcard. Also included is a bonus CD of unreleased material and a rice paper print. –Ryan Nichols (Independent Project, [email protected])