Browsing Tag

shoegaze

Pleasure Centre – deep, ethereal dreampop with ‘Blue (Bertha)’

Posted on 8 May 2021

Carving a unique niche in the overly-effected and saturated tones of the current Shoegaze scene is a tricky call, but that’s pretty much what Scarborough’s Pleasure Centre have managed to do with ‘Blue (Bertha)’, mixing up old-school Slowdive, Ride, My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins, and BDRMM with Beach House, bits of Bloc Party, and a touch of Morrissey’s vocal vibrato and lazy delivery. Add in some Psychocandy-era Jesus and Mary Chain, a touch of Swervedriver, and a liberal sprinkling of Fleeting Joys, and you get ‘Blue (Bertha) – a gentle, ephemeral thing of beauty, all chiming chorused guitars, pushing, background-soaking bass, and layered, reverb-drenched vocals. Melancholic, ephemeral, and echoing, this is a floaty, ethereal take on post-rock dreampop that – for all its delicacy – really deserves to be played loud.

You can check out Pleasure Centre on BandCamp now, and follow on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

The Maze: Superb Sydney band Grids and Dots stretch the shadows of the ‘City Skies’

Posted on 27 April 2021

Taken off their much-awaited seven-track debut EP called ‘What Happens to Friendships?‘, Grids and Dots flourish our minds to a higher place beyond what we can see, in this dusty and often confusion-riddled world on ‘City Skies‘.

Grids and Dots is a dreamy four-piece indie-rock/shoegaze act from Sydney, Australia, who showcase their busy inner-city lives, with a glorious backdrop of stunning melodies that takes your stress away.

As their quirky poetry has you thinking deeper than before, you start to fall in love with the mellow vocals and seemingly effort soundscape, that feels so soothing into the healing heart.

This is the message of looking into the big city life as you work from your office or whilst walking around, you are looking for love and things seem like a blur, as you struggle to see into true reality. The smog, the smoke and general hustle and bustle can really have you overthinking too deeply — the search for your true purpose is always close — but seems so far away, unless you know where the elusive treasure is hidden.

‘City Skies‘ from the splendid Sydney-based shoegazers Grids and Dots, is the kind of song that has you in a gaze outside, as you look around and see people going about their daily business. You feel reflective and look a bit closer, as this hauntingly beautiful song opens up your imagination, to what you are really trying to achieve in life to be truly happy.

Stream this catchy new single on Spotify and check out the IG for more.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Brian Perrone delivers artfully sonic shoegaze in their third single, ‘GOTTA GET AWAY’

Posted on 3 April 2021

After their last single, Be This Way, refused to stop haunting us after we’d heard it, we eagerly delve into Brian Perrone’s latest single GOTTA GET AWAY which captures the claustrophobia of a situation that will cage you if you don’t start to push against the bars.

By starting with reverb-soaked synths, an archetypal feat of pensive 80s pop is teased before choral shoegaze guitars creep into the mix and build momentum in the track that almost becomes theatrical behind the curtain of alchemic genre-melding.

If you can imagine what it would sound like if Freddie Mercury, The Smiths, Muse, Editors and My Bloody Valentine had a stunning lovechild, you’ll get an idea of what to expect when you hit play on GOTTA GET AWAY.

Experiencing any form of intensity is a pleasure in lockdown times, but the sonic smorgasbord of alternative culture is so much more than a reminder that you still have the capacity to feel. It is an affirmation that we have an exceptionally talented artist in our midst who deserves celebrating. The Detroit singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist is obsession-worthy.

GOTTA GET AWAY is now available to stream via SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Californian alt-rockers Add Moss deliver up some brooding mood music with new single ‘Innamoramento’

Posted on 22 March 2021

Martinez, California alt-rockers Add Moss had an interesting gestation, initially starting out life as a duo comprised of multi-instrumentalists Aussie Bridger and Joey The Coyote, before effectively becoming a solo album project for Bridger following the departure of the Coyote, and then gradually expanding, over time, to a full five-piece band (once again including Joey The Coyote).

Now onto their seventh album, ‘Innamoramento’ is a brooding, moody eighties-inspired take on dark rock, all slow-picked flanged guitar lines, driving drums, and echoey, ethereal bass backing saxophone and Bridger’s reverb-soaked vocal. Starting slow and building to greater and greater power, ‘Innamoramento’ is a classy mix of goth, prog-rock, and jazz fusion, reminiscent of a slower The Mars Volta, Seven Impale, or Closure In Moscow. It’s not the frantic, frenetic, multi-rhythm-centric Volta, for sure, but that proggy fusion influence is clear; this is grown-up alt-rock through and through.

The suitably dark and effected official video for ‘Innamoramento’ is on YouTube; check out Add Moss here.

Review by Alex Holmes

Giant Sky show us the meaning of ethereal with their latest post-punk dream-pop single ‘Snow’

Posted on 14 March 2021

Brace yourself for the sonic sting in London and Bristol-based alt-indie powerhouse, Giant Sky’s latest single ‘Snow’ which showcases Olivia’s ethereally evocative vocals which share propensities with the likes of Desperate Journalist, Cocteau Twins and Wolf Alice while the instrumentals pull in post-punk and shoegaze dream-pop tones.

As the release affirms the fragility of our mortality with lyrics such as ‘we’re lucky to grow old’ followed up with ‘I don’t want to go into eternity without you’, it’s lyrically crushing, but the kaleidoscopically colourful instrumentals nicely cushion the blow as they throw you into walls of dizzying noise.

Snow is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Moon Museum show us all the ‘Pleasures Of Peace’

Posted on 6 March 2021

In a time where gender seems to have become more politicised and polemic than ever before, ‘Pleasures Of Peace’, the first single from San Franciscan shoegaze quartet Moon Museum, is that sought-after magical spread of masculine and feminine, yin and yang perfectly balanced between Olivia Barchard’s epic, soaring vocals and Ryan Joseph’s wash of swooping guitars. Swathes of dreamy psychrock, awash in Gretschy 12-string and echo sit atop reverb-soaked pushing drums and driving melodic bass. There’s obvious Slowdive influences, but Lush and Belly too, Swallow, the softer parts of My Bloody Valentine, and, of course, the all-straddling Cocteau Twins Liz Fraser, and gentler elements of Curve’s Toni Halliday in the vocal mix too, alongside the Doves and Chameleons guitars.

It’s a delicious, heady, atmospheric mix of dreamrock, arcing back to the 4AD shoegaze heyday of the late ‘80s and 1990s; hypnotic and entrancing, energetic and yet calming, all at once.

Moon Museum have two further singles slated for release in 2021; on the basis of ‘Pleasures Of Peace’, we can’t wait to hear them, too.

Hear ‘Pleasures Of Peace’ on Soundcloud; check out Moon Museum on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Neal Gray invites you to drift into ‘A Beautiful Slumber’ with their ambient shoegaze single

Posted on 6 January 2021

Whatever your views on guitar music are, cast them aside before you hit play on the latest cinematically lush instrumental release ‘A Beautiful Slumber’ from US singer-songwriter Neal Gray.

With the same spacious soul-twistingly sweet tones as found in Slowdive’s most sedately compelling singles, the soundscape is absorbing from the first hit. The influence of Neil Halstead’s reticent yet ardently evocative quiescent guitar-style is more than palpable, but A Beautiful Slumber is so much more than just a feat of assimilation.

Neal Gray held back on the distortion and abrasive sonic effects to create a transcendent soundscape which is beguiling and cathartic in equal measure.

In a time where tranquillity is hard to come by, I sincerely recommend Neal Gray’s tracks as a staple for your playlists.

You can drift into A Beautiful Slumber yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Sonic Indie and Celestial Soul Collide in Nikola’s Transfixing Alt Indie Rock Single ‘Pink Lights’

Posted on 22 December 2020

After spending years successful touring bands, Minnesota-hailing artist, Nikola Hamilton, released their ground-breaking EP ‘Darling’ and established themselves as one of the most luminary singer-songwriters who have made their debut in 2020.

The standout track, Pink Lights, will allow you to imagine what would happen if Interpol chose to team up with Hozier. You get the cold, cutting sonic style with the almost celestial vocals which tear though the darkly atmospheric soundscape and speak directly to your soul.

If Nikola made a bigger impression with their sleek Darkwave debut, we’d have concussion.

You can check out Nikola’s EP for yourselves which was released on November 13th, 2020 via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

That delicious treat for our ears: Portland’s Soft Cheese are scrumptiously excellent on ‘Raspberries’

Posted on 18 December 2020

Portland’s grunge-rocker trio Soft Cheese urge us to lick our thirsty lips on their lead single-‘Raspberries‘-that is taken off their much-awaited 25th December self-tilted LP release.

”Connecting the dots between the heaviness of 90’s-inspired grunge and the fog of shoegaze.”- Soft Cheese

The edgy start is such a breath of fresh air from hearing mask-like music lately. The freshly picked juicy sounds are a pleasure on our timid ears and this is something that jumps your heart like a car battery sparking up after a coma-induced rest away from the world.

Gosh, I love the soothing vocals and he steams the windows as the busty bass-line makes you blush in excitement as the deft drums dazzle the airwaves; to mesh together a marvelously created mixture that doesn’t need any further tonic. The temperature is so right here and this daze-filled atmosphere makes you have deja-vu for a short moment, remembering when this type of music was so common. If this is the rebirth, then we will need a nurse to hold our hand tight as this is a happy journey that hugs the speakers just right.

This is a trio that has more charm in their pinkie fingers that most of us have in their whole bodies. You can tell by their social media that they don’t take themselves too seriously and have so much fun together. They do have big goals however, and being on the right label for them is up the list. I hope they stay indie however and have 100% creative influence always, or work with a team that totally gets it.

There is something classy about this grunge-rock act as they impress the soul on ‘Raspberries‘. Sometimes people don’t get your journey and its lost on them as they selfishly carry on with their lives. At the end of it all, Soft Cheese are here to hopefully stick around for a while and take charge of their own destiny and play in front of thousands of screaming fans, singing every song as if it was their last. Then, they will be the ones blowing raspberries at all the ones that didn’t believe in them.

Stream this awesome band via their Soundcloud and also see their vibe on FB and IG.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Take a trip back to the Alt 90s with The Young Love Scene’s latest single “Honey”

Posted on 25 September 2020
Honey by The Young Love Scene

If it’s been a while since you’ve deemed a feat of dreamy, sludgy and distorted Alt Rock as obsession-worthy, hit play on the latest infectiously melodic earworm “Honey” from Vermont-based Alt Rock artist The Young Love Scene.

The Young Love Scene may have a fairly DIY approach to their sound, but instead of hindering the track, the intimacy is amplified and it is even easier to fall into the absorbing mix of crunchy distortion and singer Gordon Goldsmith’s alluringly harmonic vocal timbre.

If the Smashing Pumpkins and Weezer had an aural lovechild, I can imagine it would turn out something a little like Honey.

You can check out Honey for yourselves by heading over to Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast