Hello there Hexarei. I am glad you checked it out and found it at the very least interesting. I get nervous in real life when i introduce Shoegaze to people, because I am afraid they will think it sounds…off. And then I have difficulty explaining why it sounds great to me.
Okay, I am going to assume you listened to My Bloody Valentine. The music sounds hazy and distorted, and the vocals and lyrics are unclear.
This is because the they use a lot of guitar pedal effects (reverb, delay, distortion, etc) and specific tunings to achieve the wall of sound. The vocals are buried along side the guitar effects, as it is meant to be part of the “sound”, like the vocals are another instrument in the song. The melodies are buried under all that wall of sound.
I admit MBV can sound distortion heavy and intimidating, especially their earlier stuff, where it has that punk rock energy vibe.
The beauty of Shoegaze is that there are many varieties or flavours. Some are noisy and have more emphasis of distortion, while some focus more on the droning post rock vibe, and there are others that are more mellow and chill. But it’s all to achieve that specific textured sound. That dreamy atmosphere feel, being half awake at 3am.
Maybe you can try something more mellow and chill like Slowdive
Hello there Hexarei. I am glad you checked it out and found it at the very least interesting. I get nervous in real life when i introduce Shoegaze to people, because I am afraid they will think it sounds…off. And then I have difficulty explaining why it sounds great to me.
Okay, I am going to assume you listened to My Bloody Valentine. The music sounds hazy and distorted, and the vocals and lyrics are unclear.
This is because the they use a lot of guitar pedal effects (reverb, delay, distortion, etc) and specific tunings to achieve the wall of sound. The vocals are buried along side the guitar effects, as it is meant to be part of the “sound”, like the vocals are another instrument in the song. The melodies are buried under all that wall of sound.
I admit MBV can sound distortion heavy and intimidating, especially their earlier stuff, where it has that punk rock energy vibe.
The beauty of Shoegaze is that there are many varieties or flavours. Some are noisy and have more emphasis of distortion, while some focus more on the droning post rock vibe, and there are others that are more mellow and chill. But it’s all to achieve that specific textured sound. That dreamy atmosphere feel, being half awake at 3am.
Maybe you can try something more mellow and chill like Slowdive
Or something more poppy like Chapterhouse