While upon first blush, Merchandise's 'Totale Nite' almost sounds as if it came from Britain's post-punk scene of the 80's--complete with vocals that would make Echo & The Bunnymen's Ian McCulloch proud--it actually comes from the extremely un-British Tampa, Florida. And, though the influences here are apparent, there are a number of differences between this album and those classics that soon become evident. The band's sound here, much like their last release, 2012's 'Children of Desire,' is a rather unique hybrid of the aforementioned 80's British post-punk and The House of Love-style dreamy proto-shoegaze, only way more fuzzed-out, stretched-out, and tripped-out. The six songs here total over 33 minutes, so I don't even know whether this is an LP or an EP. It's definitely a fully immersive experience though, as evidenced by the walls of swirling, shoegazey guitars and 80's-ish electronic drum-beats found on "Anxiety's Door" and the epic title track, as well as the dreamy, languid, noodling bliss of "I'll Be Gone" and "Winter's Dream." 'Totale Nite' is an atmospheric, ethereal journey that, although the melodies and vocal style seemingly would have fit perfectly on the British 4AD or Creation labels of 25 years ago, separates itself by being way more of a headphone-journey than those bands (The Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine being possible exceptions), with the fuzz-drenched guitars recalling the shoegaze of Ride and 90's-era My Bloody Valentine more so than any 80's act. This excellent fusion of British post-punk, 80's proto-shoegaze and 90's actual shoegaze makes me ponder why more bands didn't go with with a similar combination a long time ago.