this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2023
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Huh. Never heard of this before and so far it's... Interesting. Side note, I have ADHD and autism so if this sounds negative or judgy that's not my goa l- I'm not trying to come across as negative here, just sharing my first experience of this.
First few songs I've found and the overall sound is kinda grating on me, there's a lot of dissonance and it feels like all the instruments and vocals are competing with each other for my attention. The vocals sound like the singers are too far away from the microphone and turned down too far in the mix, but still trying to compete with the (already loud+dissonant) rest of the track. It almost feels like unorganized chaos in a musical trenchcoat if that makes sense.
I had to turn off the playlist I found after four songs, my head is already so noisy that something so loud (broadband noise if that makes sense) makes me feel horrible.
I don't like to hate on music, and I find that there's some artistic merit to most genres... But this feels in my head like anti-art, I think? Where it's clear that the people making it have talent and ability and are using it to purposely make something unsettling.
Can you expand on what's supposed to make this enjoyable? I want to appreciate the artistic value but I'm really struggling to find it.
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