Wastrels Summoned Shoegazing Post-Rock Spirits in ‘Devil Built a Home Where You Once Prayed’ –

Through deliciously dark oscillations of distortion and cinematically psychedelic conjurings of harbingering post-rock, Wastrels held the ultimate sonic séance with Devil Built a Home Where You Once Prayed. With a tonal palette capable of striking deep into the serrated souls of fans of the Horrors and Echo and the Bunnymen, this release proves that Wastrels know exactly how to use texture to pull listeners into their world. What they conjure here is a pit of melancholic reckoning, built from shoegaze-soaked walls of noise and basslines that lurch like spectres. Even the title feels like a warning etched into stone, and the soundscape signs and seals their metaphysical vision into your psyche in a way that will haunt you long after the last note collapses into static.

After six years away from the studio, the Minneapolis shoegaze and dreampop outfit has returned sharper than ever, following up their 2019 debut LP Dangerous Summer with the double A-side single Bell Jar / Devil Built a Home Where You Once Prayed, ahead of their forthcoming full-length album due this autumn.

With Dan Schulte-Sasse’s phantasmal vocal presence riding over Rich Norris’ keys and guitars, anchored by Sahil Merchant’s bass and Ben Mulhern’s percussion, Wastrels have created their most unflinching work to date.

Devil Built a Home Where You Once Prayed is now available on all major streaming platforms, including YouTube. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast