Belfast heavy gaze band Silk release debut mini album Auralux
- Richard Blowes
- May 7
- 5 min read
Belfast shoegazers Silk are the natural successors to Virgins and they don't disappoint with their debut album Auralux available now on streaming and vinyl
Album: Auralux
Band: Silk
Released: May 7 2026
Silk's highly anticipated debut mini-album Auralux is out now on streaming services with a 12" vinyl record from Blowtorch Records and CD from Brighton-based Shoredive Records. There will also be an extensive Irish and UK tour.
Auralux covers a wide range of sonic territory over its 6 tracks; celestial and euphoric guitars dove tail with impossibly thick crushing fuzz, while cascading reverse reverbs melt into one another. Lyrically the album moves between themes of mortality, memory, loss, love and time. Auralux is catharsis via volume, fuzz and reverb.
Auralux is a confident release this early on in the band’s lifespan. A vast sonic tapestry of sound is on hand here, designed to evoke an emotional response from the listener as they get pulled under or shown the infinite horizon where anything can happen.
The impetus for Silk came from marking the significant number of years project leader Michael Smyth has spent circling the sun and the desire to spend the remainder of his time with joyous and creative acts. After releasing Faze and But Then, Yes in 2025 (which Michael classes as ‘sonic experiments’), it wasn’t until July, now re-recorded and re-mixed for the album, that the project found its voice and the decision was made to release a larger body of work. The choice to opt for a mini album was simply to capture this period of the band, documenting evolution as writing for a full album has already begun.
Opening with title track, Auralux, we’re met with a choir of shimmering guitars, multiple layers built upon each other all contribute to the enveloping bliss. This doesn’t last long as the banks burst and we are hit with walls of fuzz and huge drums, rapturous and visceral. Verses are a call and response between vocals and guitar, as Michael sings ‘keep me out of heaven / its just another place’. The chorus becomes an exercise in maximalism, fuzzes are stacked on fuzzes, dreamy leads punctuate the vocals that in true shoegaze style sit two floors below the mix, awash with ethereal reverbs that help them become part of the nebulous dream we find ourselves in. Lyrically the song cuts across themes of loss and acceptance.
Opening with swathes of expectant feedback Clementine wastes no time as impossibly thick fuzz guitars test your speakers to their limits. Pummelling drums are the heartbeat of the song as they accentuate the driving guitar and provide width to the expanding chorus. Modulated reverbs wrap themselves around blooming lead guitar lines, while the gnarled fuzz bass provides a melodic counterpoint to the vocals and considerable body to the track. Visceral verses give way to a wide cinematic chorus, opening like an aural hallucination awash in dreamy fuzz before a crushing exorcism-by-endless-reverb unravels in the midsection. Taking inspiration from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, lyrically the track touches on universal themes of grappling with the unending march of time and our dubious grip on memory. Melodically the vocals here are as hooky as any lead as they guide us through the hazy fog of fuzzy memories.
As July was the song that allowed Silk to find it’s voice, it was essential that it be included on the mini album. With parts re-recorded and the song remixed for the album, it takes on a new form, leaning into a more classic shoegaze sound. Structurally the track wastes no time and puts the chorus front and center, as fuzz guitars wash over us and the mellon collie lead line drifts along accentuating the vocals. The verses in the album version are punctuated by tremolos rising out of the sonic sound scape, or wailing behind the bridge work sounding like signals from space. The constant kick drum provides an unrelenting anchor amid the whirring guitars.
Half way through, or as we flip the record to side B, Slide Away opens with all instruments hammering the point, before opening into something more expansive. The track features two guests, with Shane McMullan (who plays bass in the live band) contributing bass and Taylor Wright from Scottish heavy-gazers Sunstinger, adding the ‘response’ vocals to the call and response chorus and taking the third verse in its entirety. Slide Away explores the fragility of human connection against desire and the preservation of self. Musically the song is dense as it moves between a driving heaviness to introspective verses, and as the chorus hits it feels like we could be crushed under the weight of it. Michael’s drums throughout the release are powerful and driving, simple and muscular beats take preference over complicated parts or fills. When fills do make an appearance they are pounding toms or simple snare rolls, accents among the heavy rhythmic attack.
Penultimate track, August is the oldest track on the release, having been penned long before Silk began, it jostles for position against Slide Away as the heaviest track on the release. Huge fuzz underpinned by gnarly bass chords will test the foundations of any building or the vertebrate of any neck. There’s an emotional weight to the track as the silent vampire of ennui sets in. Michael sings ‘Splendour revealed, constantly at arm’s length / I don’t want to know’. A single note lead guitar wails during the chorus and seems to underpin the anguish expressed in the song. The middle section feels like a moment of clarity, light that breaks through darkness which edges ever closer.
Final track Pleasures offers some solace and respite after the two darker tracks. Driven by dreamy distorted guitars the track blooms like an irradiated sunrise. With a simple chorus of ‘we are in love’, it offers a sweet juxtaposition to the darker subject matter explored across the EP. Benefitting from a more alt-rock approach the song has swathes of Siamese Dream era Pumpkins, included a soaring solo (are they allowed in shoegaze?) while still keeping one foot firmly planted in the poppier end of MBV. The track feels like it could be on an infinite fade out, a cinematic closer to the release that leaves us feeling hopeful and optimistic against the back drop of a burning world.
Auralux is a confident release this early on in the band’s lifespan. Michael is driven by filling what time remains with joyous and creative acts and that’s heard all across the release. A vast sonic tapestry of sound is on hand here, designed to evoke an emotional response from the listener as they get pulled under or shown the infinite horizon where anything can happen. Auralux is full of texture from the celestial and euphoric to the dark and dense as it creates a palpable atmosphere for the listener to reveal in.
Recording was done by Michael in the band’s practice space, giving him time and opportunity to add layers of guitars and build the tsunami of fuzz and euphoric guitars on the track. Preferring to work at pace the track went from concept to captured in a week. Mixed by AJ Das of Dublin emo-gazers Picture Postcard, Michael turned to AJ to mix given their shared love and understanding of the sound he was hoping to capture. The album was mastered by Dan Coutant of Sunroom Mastering.
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