Browsing Tag

shoegaze

Pomaa – Wide Eyed: Painfully Sober, Sonically Celestial Indie Dream Pop

Posted on 11 October 2023

With a transfixingly astral vocal register layering harmonies over the retro reverb-swathed synths, Pomaa’s latest single, Wide Eyed, bridges the gap between Siouxsie and the Banshees and cutting-edge outfits in the vein of Wolf Alice and Desperate Journalist while allowing you to linger in a kaleidoscope of dreamy psych-pop tones.

From the first immersion, the artist’s unique talents in blending the spirit of her own hypnotically authentic expression with the mixer of era-spanning signatures from shoegaze, post-punk, psych, pop and indie to pour the perfect sonic mocktail becomes immediately apparent.

Through Wide Eyed, Pomaa narrates the isolation of being the only sober person at a party; starved of connection and wracked with unshakable sensations which embed the loneliness of growing at a different pace to everyone around you.

Wide Eyed will be available to stream on all major platforms from October 11; stream it on Spotify & SoundCloud. If you like what you hear, stay tuned for the release of her debut EP, Bridge to Somewhere, which will drop on November 15.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Bathe in the shimmering catharsis of whitewood drive’s distorted Tour De Force, cosmic hero

Posted on 1 September 2023
whitewood drive

While shoegaze bands that can cut through the derivative reverb-drenched tones don’t come around all too often in this era, whitewood drive proved that there are still creative ways to push through the washed-out choral distortion with their latest mellifluous-with-malaise single, cosmic hero.

By emanating the darkness of Bauhaus and following the Vapour Trail laid out by Ride, the Connecticut-hailing three-piece succeeded in crafting a single that lends itself well to the traditionalism of the genre while ensuring you have a reason to turn your attention away from your MBV and Slowdive records. The intricately evocative single may stir plaintive emotions, but the accordance lets you bathe in shimmering catharsis in the next breath. It’s a stunning release that harbingers even greater tonal triumphs to come.

cosmic hero is due for official release on September 1st; stream it on Spotify or download the track on Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Way Too Late: Kenesukoh floats away forever on i’ll be gone

Posted on 2 August 2023

Putting his previous struggles behind him and getting away from something he feels no love for anymore, Kenesukoh has dropped a quick-fire song to turn our ears up and this one is called i’ll be gone.

Kenesukoh is a Los Angeles, California-based indie shoegaze artist who loves to make soul-carrying singles to take others out of their mental struggle.

Packed with potential and piercing with a speaker-sizzle vibration, Kenesukoh is the type of modern-day musician who keeps things real throughout and certainly isn’t afraid to experiment.

i’ll be gone from the LA shoegaze single-songwriter Kenesukoh is a reminder that sometimes things end before we want them to. This is a single with minimal lyrics and is simply a daydream in real life, that seems to go so fast and take us into a surreal mindset which is hard to overcome sometimes.

Listen up further on Spotify.

See more on the IG music page.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Peach Giraffe is dejectedly wayward bound in their dissonantly sweet indie single, Take Me Home

Posted on 21 July 2023

Finding the wavy lo-fi middle ground between Nirvana and Elliott Smith, the latest single, Take Me Home, from the DIY indie originator, Peach Giraffe, is a soporifically sweet visualisation of the desire to be enveloped in the irreplicable comfort of home.

In spite of the succinctness of the instrumental arrangement, led by the definitively 90s indie guitars, the single is underpinned by a precariously resonant state of unease that anyone who has a proclivity towards detachment and disassociation will find themselves connecting to.

After this installation of enticing artfulness and expressive candour from Peach Giraffe, our breath is bated for the next authentically raw hit from the artist who holds little loyalty to genres in his fluid discography, constructed by their desire to create whatever comes to mind with minimal inhibition.

Take Me Home was officially released on July 7th; hear it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Holy Gloam borrowed from Dinosaur Jr in their melancholic shoegaze serenade, Used for Falling

Posted on 15 July 2023

Making an authentic mark on the Shoegaze landscape where so many chorally dissonant signatures have been scribed is no easy feat; Holy Gloam succeeded all the same with their latest single, Used for Falling.

The vulnerable vocal lines become the soft sonic underbelly of the sludged-to-the-nines single, which uses clamorously effect-laden guitars to visualise the rancorous paths of descent our minds can take us down and sweeten the vocal harmonies in texturally sublime contrast. Sharpening the teeth of the melancholy is lyrical diehard romanticism, which paints a portrait of unconditional affection which distance and disconnection can’t diminish.

With their ability to invite their listeners into such evocatively compelling soundscapes which play the heartstrings as intricately and intimately as the guitars, the North Wales/NW England five-piece clearly have a bright future ahead of them. They have already been making major waves since songwriter Julian Neale founded the outfit in 2021; they’ve become staples in the NW touring circuit and their debut album, Small Nothings, was longlisted by Welsh Music Prize. Watch this space for more major moves from the scintillating evocateurs.

Used for Falling was officially released on July 7th; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Foreign Saints is sonorously spectral in their debut shoegaze single, Here With Me

Posted on 11 July 2023

If you placed yourself in the middle ground of Elliott Smith and Slowdive, you would be in good company with the sonorously spectral debut single, Here With Me, from Foreign Saints.

With a slice of psychedelia written into the indie pop songwriting chops, Here With Me unravels as a hazy kaleidoscope of wistful colour. As the lyrics allude to what’s lost through time and distance, the dreamy instrumentals envelop you in their reverb-swathed cathartic tonality.

The bedroom pop project from the Brooklyn-based musician, Thomas Roberts, may not be far past its inception, but Roberts is already proving himself to be an unreckonable resonant force. Fans of The Japanese House, War on Drugs, and Day Wave won’t want to let the project slip them by, especially with the debut EP in the pipeline.

Here With Me is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Strange Things became the heirs to sonic obscurity with their vintage psych rock tour de force, Witness to the Apathy Gospel / Approaching Mindfulness

Posted on 1 June 2023

With the same fuzzy psychedelic alchemy that would be tasted in the notes of a cocktail of The Zombies, Sonic Youth, and Wire, the standout single, Witness to the Apathy Gospel / Approaching Mindfulness from Strange Things’ LP, In That Light of Fading Day will leave you intoxicated from the first time you savour the vintage tones.

The melting pot of psych, shoegaze and experimental noise, influenced by the likes of The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Telescopes and The Stooges, ensured that the LP from the Canadian connoisseurs of sonic obscurity was far from the ordinary lockdown-born albums that proliferated the airwaves when amateur hour seemed to stretch out in perpetuity.

Beneath the sludgy swathes of effects are some serious songwriting chops, written in the way the progressions immerse you even deeper in the vintage psych outpour of grief for the victims of the Uvalde County shooting.

Closing the single on headily distorted Eastern rhythms was the cherry on the sonic dissonance cake. Stream Witness to the Apathy Gospel / Approaching Mindfulness for yourselves via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Q-Days – Underboard: Alt-90s Nostalgia Has Never Been Kaleidoscopically Sweeter

Posted on 7 April 2023

The Brighton-based alt-rock outfit, The Q-Days, is driving nostalgia into the next generation of British guitar music with their dreamy kaleidoscopic 90s Britpop-kicked tones and cathartically honeyed vocal lines. Their latest single, Underboard, is sweeter than Sally Cinnamon under the duress of the choral progressions that lick anthemic soul into every honed note.

With escapism, freedom of expression and euphoria as their triadic ethos, they stand for everything we should be giving an ovation to in the UK right now. It’s the pits, but one thing is for sure, our polluted waters are the perfect breeding ground for prodigal sons of rock n roll that salvation seekers will want to flock to.

After spending their foundling days developing their craft before it reached the airwaves and live stages, The Q-Days were always going to be primed to make a killer debut. So far, they’ve opened for Youth Killed It, The Rifles, and Bilk, but if any breakthrough act is definitively headliner material, it’s The Q-Days.

Underboard will officially release on April 7th. Check it out on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Sonica unveiled their ethereally experimental shoegaze revival, Wait for Me

Posted on 11 February 2023

With one of the most experimental revivalist approaches to Shoegaze known to the airwaves, the Perth-based outfit, Sonica, easily set their lush reverb-swathed tones apart from the rest. Intent on not being another Lush, Ride, or Curve replica act, Sonica found innovative ways of distorting their dream pop melodies without bursting the semi-lucid bubble

The bleeding vocals from Claire Turton stand up to the mesmeric plate, containing the same ethereal beguile as Cocteau Twins and Siouxsie and the Banshees in the moody standout single, Wait for Me, which pushes grungy tones into the midst of the euphonic kaleidoscopic accordance. Leaving ample space for the gritty and cold timbre of 80s post-punk, the four-piece revisited the golden era of shoegaze by taking a route never tread before.

Wait for Me is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Sun Hit an 80s New Wave Atmosphere in Sabet and Doherty’s Single, At the Brink of Dawn

Posted on 30 January 2023

Docking their boat at the harbour of 80s new wave atmosphere, the soundtrackers, professional songwriters and producers, Sabet and Doherty, orchestrated a sonic depiction of when the sun hits in their single, At the Brink of Dawn, taken from their sophomore EP, The Secret.

Starting with cavernously choral angular guitar work in the same vein as Slowdive, the instrumental aural escapade builds into a feat of full-bodied beguile through the percussive fills brought by Doherty, best known for his work with Ben Folds and They Might Be Giants.

The oceanically cathartic testament to the collaborative chemistry that spills between the two artists is a unique invitation to slip array from the fray of typically structured music and become part of the flotsam while you trust in the expert orchestrators, who drift you into one of the sweetest 80s rock crescendos towards the outro.

At the Brink of Dawn is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast