While reading reviews of Sabrosa Purr for me to shamelessly plagiarize, I saw one describing their sound as “the atmosphere of Jupiter washing over you in waves big enough to surf on.” Far be it for someone of my meager abilities to criticize another writer, but what the fuck does that sound like exactly? Describing music can sometimes be a difficult prospect. Using phrases that don’t mean anything is a trick we sometimes have to use when we don’t know what the hell we’re talking about. Sabrosa Purr’s new album Music From the Velvet Room does have a sound that is difficult to quantify, but I shall do my best, hopefully without resorting to cheap tricks.
Sabrosa has a spacey quality that probably spawned the aforementioned Jupiter reference. The echoing sound is produced by a heavy effects delay on the guitars. The instrumentals are similar to that of My Bloody Valentine without the phenomenal builds. The interesting thing about the album is that it ranges from almost ambient to hardcore. I’ve never heard anything quite like it. Often the soft music is combined with vocals that reach a screaming pitch. This is a hard sound for my ear to reconcile.
Sabrosa Purr is trying to do something new, which I can appreciate. However, bold attempts like this face big stumbling blocks. The end result is akin to combining Poison with Mogwai. It’s an awkward mix that hasn’t quite been perfected. I have hope that they may pull it out in time.
