Album Review: common sense by elbowsway

Tashkent, Uzbekistan probably isn’t the first place you think of when looking for new shoegaze, and no one would blame you. Until very recently—2024, in fact—shoegaze wasn’t a genre anyone in the country’s small underground circuit was exploring.

Enter – elbowsway. Founded by Tomas Mollaev, whose journey as a musician started in Turkmenistan’s extreme metal scene, the bassist and vocalist met his bandmates—guitarist and vocalist Aziz Ganiev, guitarist Amir Shaykhutdinov, and drummer Roman Shirshov—after an unfortunate incident in a mosh pit left Tomas with a dislocated elbow. In his pain-wrecked state, his arm seemed to sway at the point it should bend, giving rise to the band’s evocative name. Agony and art are inextricably linked, but I can’t recall a situation where such explicit, physical pain provided a band’s very foundation.

Following on from two very well-received singles, common sense marks the band’s debut EP. Bringing in the players’ collective love of post-hardcore, emo, and grunge, there are also elements of noise and sludge metal flowing through the veins of this record. There’s a heaviness to elbowsway’s sound that brings to mind shoegaze titans Nothing—the Philadelphia band’s 2018 album Dance on the Blacktop is cited by Tomas as a revelation—but make no mistake, this isn’t an attempt to imitate or replicate another band’s signature. It’s more the mood and intensity of expression that tether the two bands in my mind.

Opening with the titular track “common sense,” the EP swells into being with the droning rumble of guitars and bass before erupting into a chugging riff propelled by crash-cymbal-festooned drums. The guitars have a gritty, discordant timbre—a sound thick with fuzz boxes and overdrive pedals. It’s immediate and heavy, grabbing the listener by the scruff of the neck in an emotional examination of societal rupture and isolation, and serving as an excellent tone-setter.

Moving through the record, themes of emotional exhaustion, deep self-reflection, and the fickle nature of emotional stability are delivered with a refreshingly blunt honesty. The lyrics conjure vivid, even graphic images of anguish:

“those haunting feelings / they’re scouring my guts / makes me wanna puke / getting used it hurts / there is a subtle need for a cry / stop questioning my… f***.”

The catharsis on display is profound in its sincerity.

There are even direct odes to psychological horror, with “Trees” and “Ward” drawing influence from David Lynch and Keiichiro Toyama’s iconic video game Silent Hill, respectively. They are haunting and ethereal, providing an inspired template for the band to explore and experiment with surrealist imagery.

elbowsway are a tight-knit ensemble, working together as a collective with a shared artistic vision and an unapologetic love for the music that guided them through dark times and into the light. Tomas and Aziz’s vocal performances are delivered with a delicate balance of detached candour. The guitars grind with an immutable intensity, while the rhythm section rumbles, pounds, and shimmers with cymbals.

The production is noteworthy too; it’s thick, wide, and rich with sonic detail, thanks in no small part to the talents of elbowsway’s fifth, studio-only member, Anton Suraev, whose skill behind the soundboard belies the EP’s modest budget.

Flowing seamlessly between bludgeoning, riff-laden heaviness and sombre, heart-wrenching emotional earnestness, elbowsway’s debut EP is a tantalising proposition—a band on the rise, not just in their native city of Tashkent, but on the global shoegaze stage.

Support elbowsway on Bandcamp.