Artist: PVRIS
Album: White Noise
Genre: Alternative
Label: Rise Records

Fleeting: that moment when a new artist steals your heart. You’re not asked nicely if you want your emotions thrown into a record and tossed around like a load of laundry; you’re not given a ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ when your spirit is lifted from the ground and sent into a world you previously didn’t know — induced by a series of songs so powerful that it can give you the shakes or shivers…it can send tears down your cheeks. It doesn’t ask for an invitation. No, when a life-changing record enters your life, it’s by storm. It’s by charge and force and it brings change, positive change. It brings the kind of change you need in your life. It uplifts, moves, and molds you. It becomes part of you.

White Noise, the new LP from Boston alternative indie rock band PVRIS, is that type of record. It contains moments so aurally powerful and melodically chilling that you’re overwhelmed with a wave of thought and meaning. You and the record become one and the same. It’s a power no other art could begin to accomplish. It’s a power unlike any other.

As one can imagine from the above evidence, White Noise isn’t the stereotypical collection of indie pop songs. There’s a diversity, both vocally and lyrically, to the record that is unique and selfless. Songs like the record opener “Smoke,” and mid-album ballad “Eyelids” are soft and sweeping — with an element of unspoken softness that is swaying from beginning to finish. There are subtle explosions on these tracks — musically and aesthetically organic in how it infests your ears and settles in your mind.

That’s not to say there aren’t moments on the record that don’t contain abrasive explosions. The back-to-back singles, “St. Patrick” and “My House,” are arguably the most infectious, catchy and undeniably abrasive pop songs released this year. Both songs contain choruses with a growling underbelly of passion delivered by frontwoman Lynn Gunn. It’s heavy and dark in an addicting way — a way that makes you want to come back for more. Her delivery says, “Come here and listen. Love these songs. I dare you.” Challenge accepted. The hooks are the best of the year on these numbers and leave a lasting impression unlike any other Rise Records release this year.

The record puts off a sonic euphoria — a balance of guitar-driven versus and synth-layered choruses. Like every respectable record, there are ups and downs. The record’s most notable song containing this balance is the transparent “Holy.” The song, containing a vocal questioning of one’s religion, is arguably the most downright honest number on the record. The bombastic chorus makes the hair on your neck stand straight and the versus have you hitting repeat — dissecting the story Gunn is revealing through melody. “Ghost” shows a different energy from the band. It’s a song that breaks away from key-driven formula and displays the band in a more stripped-down manner. On a record full of standout tracks, it proves there are many dimensions to PVRIS.

It doesn’t always happen, but every-so-often a band trudges through the muck of the Warped Tour scene and takes its career to a level most only dream of reaching. PVRIS, behind White Noise, has the opportunity to be the next band to shed its scene roots and infect radio stations worldwide. There’s something special going on with this band — join the party now before everyone else.

SCORE: 10/10

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Matthew Leimkuehler

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