this self-released cd-r by the enigmatic y.a.f., who is the sole member of cosmicdust, is a stunner. sure, by now we all now how kevin shields got those sounds out of his gear – or do we? – and sure, there are dozens of bands out there doing the wall of sound thing. what gives cosmicdust’s snow noise assemblage its legs is that it could legitimately be the long-lost cousin of loveless, sharing so much dna with that benchmark album that it’s not difficult to move past the notion of rip-off into the much safer waters of homage. y.a.f. makes no bones about it though, listing his three favorite bands as mbv, the equally-as-noisey astrobrite, and slowdive. imagine shields as bill murray’s lost in translation character instead of just the film’s soundtracker, and you’ve got a good idea what’s going on here.

dense layers nail the “floating guitar” idea, and then give way to ethereal, buried vocals. simple guitar notes ride amid sonic maelstroms, waiting for keyboard washes to float to the surface of the din. drums patiently do their thing and the bass chugs along like the undercurrent it should be. then it all slams back in at twice the volume. the album is broken up, just as loveless was, by the occasional ambient-esque interlude – it’s in these breathers that y.a.f. shows a strong hand at restraint and subtlety.

snow noise assemblage is a different album from loveless in that it lacks the melancholy which runs through most of the early 90’s classic. the last half of the album veers heavily into early jesus and mary chain territory – again, though, y.a.f. is forgiven for wearing his influences so openly on his sleeve thanks to the quality of his work.

cosmicdust has a site and a myspace as well – check them out for some samples.