Miners give loud sound the shaft

For their sixth album, the Early Day Miners offer up waves of guitar chords riding in a void of ambient electronic noise.

Some cleaner riffs and solos dot the tracks, and there’s grittier handling on, “How to Fall,” but overall it’s clear why the Miners tag themselves “shoegaze.”

Melodic, sometimes raspy singing from the Miners’ main man, Daniel Burton, and airy backing vocals from Daun Fields – who unfortunately rarely gets to belt out her beautiful contralto – add to this release’s subdued sound.

“Spaces,” and the previously mentioned “Fall” come through with a higher tempo, but the songs then dip back into low, slow bass notes and warbling vocals.

There’s lots of experimentation here. The keyboard has a wide range, sometimes sounding eerily synthesized and other times sounding like an organ or accordion.
Hand drumming comes into the mix on “Fall,” and the last song, “Silver Oath,” even has a folk sound.

This album almost put me to sleep – but that’s not a bad thing. “Treatment” was obviously made for chilling out.