Pale Saints - Slow Buildings (1994)

Following the dark, experimental In Ribbons, Pale Saints returned to comparatively sunny sounds for Slow Buildings, their final studio album. There's still plenty of darkness to go around -- most notably, there's ten-minute slow-burner "Henry", which rides a moody, churning bassline with organ accompaniment to a dramatic, funereal conclusion -- but a good chunk of the album is spent returning to and refining the bright, upbeat sounds of their early singles. Also, ex-Lush vocalist Meriel Barham, who did secondary vocals on Ribbons, steps in as lead vocalist, and she's great.

Yes, that's an awful album cover. It took me years to move past it and give the album a shot, and I'm glad I did.

Track listing:
1. King Fade
2. Angel (Will You Be My)
3. One Blue Hill
4. Henry
5. Under Your Nose
6. Little Gesture
7. Song of Solomon
8. Fine Friend
9. Gesture of a Fear
10. Always I
11. Suggestion

The seeds left in her head

Pale Saints - In Ribbons (1992)

Pale Saints' second and IMO best album. While the opening one-two-three punch wouldn't sound at all out of place on their first album, they spend most of the rest of the album exploring darker, slower territory, with unanimously rewarding results. Highlights include the driving, instantly satisfying shoegaze of "Throwing Back the Apple," the acoustic guitar and cello-driven "Shell," the menacing "Hair Shoes," and chiming, blissed-out album closer, "A Thousand Stars Burst Open."

Track listing:
1. Throwing Back the Apple
2. Ordeal
3. Thread of Light
4. Shell
5. There Is No Day
6. Hunted
7. Blue Flower
8. Hair Shoes
9. Babymaker
10. Liquid
11. Neverending Night
12. Featherframe
13. A Thousand Stars Burst Open

Into the lightning white