Due to it’s incestuous relationship with with the sub-culture that has now become known as “hipster,” Indie Rock has become a bad word. It brings to mind college kids who pretentiously try to make music with no pretense, but most probably listened to pop punk in high school, as they grew up in the Burbs, and now that they are sowing their oats in bigger urban areas they are trying a little of everything – since unlike punks and metal heads, they don’t have anything they identify with so strongly that it sticks and stays.
What does this have to do with Glass? Well, they are indie rock not tainted by the aforementioned garbage that gets attached to indie rock. This is not something you would expect to come out of Greenville, SC. The post-punk elements rub elbows with breezy Sonic Youth-like drones. The vocals sometimes have a Lou Reed quality to their plaintive recital of the lyrics. The guitar is often noisy and jagged, but even more often holds a melodic jangle. The bass sound is crisp, but not heavy on the opener, and the guitar tone reminds me of late 90s PJ Harvey. The end is abrupt, sending them stumbling on into “S-Man,” and while the band indulges in their gloomier side, they never touch on the big G-word. Their ambiance comes from a rawer, expand-and-contract dynamic. The vocals sometimes sound like Thurston Moore singing Kim Gordon’s parts. On “Room One,”the vocals can sometimes be a point of contention, but the guitar tone makes up for it.
