After climbing through an era of erratic pop and modern indie dance music, nineties nostalgia can be such a breath of fresh air.

Domino records have reissued Galaxie 500’s three albums in their original recorded format recorded before they parted ways at the beginning of the nineties. Whilst the band only performed and recorded together from 1987 to 1991, they left as hugely influential artists on the indie dream pop scene. The band was comprised of Dean Wareham, Naomi Yang and Damon Krukowski who all went on to form other bands and solo pursuits following the breakup.

With melancholy dream pop being oh so in vogue for the past few years, it was only a matter of time before this band reared its lovely lo-fi head once more. The three albums ‘Today’, ‘On fire’ and ‘This is our music’ are being released as 2-disc sets. With rarities and extras galore on the second discs to excite fans and newcomers alike, they will not be disappointed.

All three albums showcased their soon to be distinctive atmospheric production, whispy vocals, humming guitar and low key drumming. Being a virgin Galaxie 500 listener, one can be slightly overwhelmed by the amount of familiar sounds and styles exhibited on the album which had gone on to influence bands from the early nineties right through to some of today’s great dream popsters Beach House and Mazzy Star.

The contrasts between the distorted sound of the guitars and Wareham’s soft, slightly out of key vocals on the Jonathan Richman cover ‘Don’t let our youth go to waste’ is as haunting as it was anthemic at the time it was first released.

There was a certain half finished, under-produced sound that a band like Galaxie 500 did so well. Aside from the lo-fi factor, Wareham’s ‘weak’ voice is something others tried to reproduce throughout the nineties. In comparison to what is expected of today’s version of shoegaze style vocalists, he could easily come across as a squeaky teenager whose voice has just broken and isn’t quite sure how to use it yet.

Despite recent efforts to emulate sounds of bands like Galaxie 500, others end up sounding like they did it on purpose. Galaxie 500 in its time never seemed intent on making a certain type of album or developing their sound like other bands, but rather provided a small glance into how 60’s nostalgia could collaborate with gloomy Harvard graduates (all three attended the famed institution) to produce something so simple and understated, yet so pivotal in the dream pop movement.

If you have a thing for nineties indie garage and dream pop, or if you want to relive your hey-days of Pavement and Sonic Youth, these are three more defining albums to add to your collection if they haven’t made it there already.

8/10

Gemma Alver