The Glass Set are "what doctors prescribe for fans of The Sundays, My Bloody Valentine, and Lush." www.gothic-rock.com/2015/01/the-glass-set-first-image-2014.html

Boston, Massachusetts act The Glass Set admit to being brought up on a steady diet of UK post punk acts and this much is clear on a darkly impressive mini album EP which takes on shoegaze and gothic genres along the way. This description alone might make you think you’ve heard all this before but there’s a noticeable maturity and complexity to their songs which ensures their music lurks in the memory.

For the first song ‘Luckiest Girl’, Joel Cohen’s murky guitars and Allen Esser’s thick, pounding percussion are interwoven deliciously with Leah Callahan’s sweet innocent vocals and Cohen’s own haunting murmur. It’s an unusual yet intoxicating beginning; echoing the shadowy work of early Breathless as much as any female-fronted shoegaze act you could care to mention. Callahan becomes a more dominant presence on ‘Elephant And Castle’. Here the arrangement is stripped back for much of the song; where the band are content to build a ringing, chiming foundation on which the singer can deliver a dominant yet classy performance and when the song enters its inevitable loud phase it is done so in a superbly controlled way.

The title track seems slightly wayward at first with male/female vocals colliding and fading into each other above warped guitars but credit to the band for experimenting with production and this clever, complex track grows in stature after repeated plays. A more commercially-friendly ‘Ooh La La’ proves that The Glass Set can “do” pop if the mood takes them and here the melodies flow from every key change. The final two tracks are plunged back into ethereal darkness; with ‘Keep It To Yourself’, especially, bringing gothic influences into the mix.

The Glass Set may have been hailed as “Joy Division fronted by a female Morrissey” by their local press but there’s a ring of truth to the hyperbole since ‘First Image’ is laced with well-judged Mancunian influences and their frontwoman has the charisma to ensure they rise to the top of similarly-styled bands.
leonardslair.wordpress.com/2015/01/05/review-the-glass-set-first-image/

It’s clear from the outset that Boston’s The Glass Set have been influenced by classic 80’s UK bands, (they assure us that the three of them have had a steady diet!) how else could they have come up with this classic shoegaze tune ‘Elephant and Castle’.

It’s got all the hallmarks; jangley and soaring guitars, a bit of reverb and a gorgeous sugary sweet vocal. The video is equally reminiscent of the indie bands of the same time, fuzzy black and white footage of walking through fields and never ending spiral staircases. I love the inspiring line ‘at my fingertips there’s a new ending everyday’.
www.backseatmafia.com/2014/10/05/new-music-the-glass-set-elephant-and-castle/

Comprised of Joel Cohen (vocals, guitar), Allen Esser (drums), and Leah Callahan (vocals and keyboards), the Boston, MA-based trio of The Glass Set specialize in a dreamy shoegazer rock that is naturally inspired by 80s and 90s Brit pop. In fact, the Boston Herald compared the band’s sound as “Joy Division fronted by a female Morrissey;” however, personally I find that to be a bit off, at least for “Elephant and Castle,” the latest single of the band’s off the band’s forthcoming album First Image, which is slated for a September 2014 release.

In some way “Elephant and Castle” reminds me much more of the Cranberries (yeah, i know they’re Irish but bear with me), the Sundays and The Stone Roses in the sense that “Elephant and Castle” possesses an eerie beauty that slowly unfurls before the listener — and much like those bands their sound also possesses a subtle nuance that reveals itself upon repeated listens. William Ruben Helms www.joyofviolentmovement.com/post/94466954327/comprised-of-joel-cohen-vocals-guitar-allen

Dreamy pop da Boston, MA. Terzetto con heavenly voice, capace di suscitare pruriti da C86 a coloro che quell’epoca l’hanno vissuta, ma sopra tutto di comporre canzoncine piacevoli, come la sognante “Elephant and castle”, e di disegnare traiettorie oblique come nella title-track che evoca i florilegi chitarristici di Cocteau Twins/The Cure, e poi tutti a guardarsi le punte delle scarpe. First image nobilita il termine indie, ci fa sognare mentre lasciamo scivolare lo sguardo oltre le creste bardate di spuma delle onde che si rincorrono prima di andare a morire sulla rena. Solo sei brani (ma sembra che i bostoniani siano parchi nel manifestare il loro talento, e ne possiedono in buona misura), che ci donano almeno qualche minuto di beatitudine. “Ooh la la” è sbarazzina non solo nel titolo, ma mica è sciocchina, e se a volte eccedono con lo zucchero (ne basterebbero un paio, di bustine), una volta prese le misure (“There goes nobody”) di loro si apprezzerà non solo l’evidente inclinazione alla bella melodia (spontanea e non artefatta). Gran chiusura con la nervosa e wave-oriented “Keep it to yourself”, col suo basso tonante ad omaggiare i primi, e più umbratili, ottanta. www.versacrum.com/vs/2014/11/the-glass-set-first-image.html