Laveda - "What Happens After"

Words by Zach Romano.

Know that feeling you’ve barely been keeping at bay for the last three months, hell, the last four-plus years? That buzz of trepidation in the back of your head that keeps even the moments of quiet you can find in this global shit show from being truly peaceful? Albany dream fuzz duo Laveda have been dealing with that too, and on their debut album What Happens After, Ali Genevich and Jake Brooks lyrically and sonically spell that feeling out. What Happens After is a stressed-out, apocalypse-obsessed record, but it manages to find some catharsis and solid hooks amid the anxiety.

Laveda position themselves as heavily influenced by 90s shoegaze, and though this comes through on the album, their take on the genre seems mediated through its early-2010s iteration: their sound slots nicely between Cold Cave’s hyper-caffeinated claustrophobia and the barbed twee of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. There’s more displacement than envelopment here, more mbv than Loveless.

First track “Ghost” opens with undecipherable vocals mumbled over tinny strings (an autoharp?), but it isn’t long before the “Just Like Honey” beat crashes in, and we’re off. Laveda’s sound is maximalist and driving even in their quieter moments, with buzzsaw guitars and low-tuned drums that feel just slightly ahead of the beat. Single “Better Now” follows with a palpable sense of unease and a big hook delivered through down-tuned vocals.

“CND” initially seems like a breather after the first two tracks, but what appears at first to be found audio under a textured soundscape a la Mogwai reveals itself as a spoken word piece on how America’s past and present sins weigh on our collective consciousness even as (or because) they are not reckoned with publicly. It’s a shame that the words are mostly obscured under all the fuzz. “Rager,” the most straightforward rock cut on the album, continues on the same track, wondering when the end will come and if there will be anything left for Gen Z afterwards.

The duo stretch out and show their range in the second half of the album. “Dream. Sleep.” puts Genevich’s vocals against a gorgeous high-register bass, and “If Only (You Said No)” delivers the downtempo lull we thought we were getting earlier.

Laveda are a young band with a fully realized voice and perspective, and What Happens After couldn’t feel timelier. You can purchase What Happens After on vinyl via Bandcamp. The album is also available on all streaming platforms, including Spotify.