Egoism - Sorry

Now this is a song that ticks all of our metaphorical boxes. Egoism are a dreampop duo from Sydney comprising Olive Rush & Scout Eastment, and make the sort of breezy shoegaze that gets us giddy with excitement. Their new single is "Sorry", which is an infectious song that calls to mind elements of Alvvays, School of Seven Bells & The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, and combines them into one lush package. It's a great song, and when the blasts of guitar come in after 50 seconds, it put the song very much in the realms of our favourite song of the year to date.

"Sorry" is out now.

The Breaks - Honey

This is a song that I first came across a couple of weeks ago when I reviewed it as part of Fresh on The Net's Fresh Faves. Given that it's one that I have consistently come back to since then, it was only proper to give it a mention here at The Metaphorical Boat.

The Breaks are a Burnley bred, Manchester based band, who for the time being are happy to remain anonymous*. They released their debut E.P a few weeks back, and the track that gained our love from the release was the wonderful "Honey", a shoegaze-y wall of blissful noise that encapsulates everything I love about the sub-genre, like My Bloody Valentine with a poppier heart. Plus, the drum intro reminds me of "Killing of a Flashboy" by Suede, which is never, ever a bad thing.

"Honey" is taken from the band's debut E.P, the cheerily titled "Misery", which is out now


*Although curiously, the music video for "Honey" does seem to feature people who may or may not be in the band, including one fellow playing the guitar.

Shoegaze Ramblings, featuring Supercar & Tuath

When I went to The Great Escape Festival in Brighton in 2014, one of the greatest discoveries that I made was not a band nor a song who were in attendance at the festival, but a group that had disbanded approximately ten years earlier. I was at the Japanese showcase during the festival (the same showcase where I witnessed the incredibly weird Buffalo Daughter in person), when I heard this wonderful shoegaze track bursting out of the speakers which completely overwhelmed me. After a short bit of DJ-bothering, I learned the track in question was "Playstar Vista", a song by Japanese band Supercar -



There were many things that struck me about that song, aside from how ruddy fantastic it was. One thing that I thought was interesting that given that it came out in 2000, it was released almost an equal distance away both from the original shoegaze scene of the early 90s and the nu-gaze revival that really got going in the late 00s, and its sound seems to come off almost like a "missing link" between the two.

But the other thing that's notable about the song is that it is sung in Japanese, it took me quite a few listens of the song for me to realise this, yet this didn't impede my enjoyment of the music (as I've alluded to before, despite my love of Japanese culture, my knowledge of the language is very limited). I guess this is one of the great things about the shoegaze genre - because the voice is treated almost like another instrument, the words themselves aren't as important, rather the feelings that they convey.

This leads me nicely onto another shoegaze band that I've recently come across, Tuath. The Donegal band's sound is very much in the mold of the My Bloody Valentine-esque shoegazers of yore (albeit with added saxophone), but what sets them apart from other bands of the same ilk is that across many of their songs, they sing completely in Irish. Once again, my knowledge of Irish is very basic at best. I can count to 20 in the language, I can say "Dia dhuit" and I know what a buscar bruscar is, but that's about it. Yet in spite of this, I was completely captivated by the sound of the band on songs such as "Uisce Uisce Read All About It" (which is part of a free E.P the group released last year) -



It is usually said that English is the universal language of music. However, if there was one genre that I would say is the most universal, it would be shoegaze. There's not many genres where the singer can perform in a language that is completely alien to the listener, still convey so much meaning and emotion. And it's bands like Supercar and Tuath that remind us of this fact.

For a more recent song by Tuath, here's their cover/remix of "Casting Shadows Over The Sun" by Shammin Delly -

The Death of Pop - Gardens

Bournemouth based jangle-gazers The Death of Pop caught our attention last year with their fantastic single "Whenever", followed by their subsequent E.P "Fifths". Since then, they released an E.P over the summer (which features the short but sweet "Rayban Party"), and are now gearing up to release a new single as part of the Too Pure Singles Club.

"Gardens" is a song which pays tribute to the botanical influences of the band (seriously - this is an actual quote from their press release - "Without the tender co-cultivation of music and plants...The Death of Pop would be a very different band"). Once again, the song demonstrates the band's nous for mixing up post-punk, jangle-pop and shoegaze in their own delectable fashion.

"Gardens" will be released as a 7" single later this month.

Pesky! - Keep Me

So many acts dream of being signed to the ultra-hip Fierce Panda indie record label, which is good news for Ulverston, Cumbria septet Pesky!, who are due to release their first E.P with them next month. What's even more remarkable however is just how young the band are - none of the members of the band are older than 12.

Their debut single "Keep Me" shows that the band are both more talented and with influences more broad than you would expect for a band of their age. The song mixes indie-pop and shoegaze elements, calling to mind some of the later, less sample-based songs from The Go! Team. The scary thing is, if they're sounding this good on their debut release, just imagine how fantastic they're going to be like a few years down the line. They're going to be world beaters.

"Keep Me" is taken from their debut E.P, the wonderfully titled "Smells Like Tween Spirit", which is released on July 24th.

Memory Clinic - Gentle Neglect

It's always nice to feature a song from a band hailing from a place we've never covered before. On this occasion, the song comes courtesy of Memory Clinic, who hail from the Welsh town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyll (population just over 3000). "Gentle Neglect" is a slice of dreamy late 80s/early 90s inspired indie-rock, underpinned by a rather nice guitar riff and overall feeling that evokes Stone Roses and Jesus & Mary Chain from that time, as well as more contemporary bands like Deerhunter and Jaws. As simple and elegant as one would like their dreamy guitar-rock to be like.

"Gentle Neglect" is available to purchase now.

The Death of Pop - Mirage

Last month, this blog introduced Bournemouth jangle-gaze band The Death of Pop with their spectacular single, "Whenever". So taken was I with the song and the band that I instantly purchased the accompanying E.P, "Fifths", which wasn't due to be released for a few weeks yet. Well, yesterday the E.P arrived, which came in the form of a download code, a fanzine which features the lyrics and chord sequences of every song on the E.P (the former being very useful for music like this, where the vocals are usually buried 20 feet in the mix), and a physical copy of one of the E.P's tracks, "Mirage", in a very special format -

For the uninitiated, that's a Flexidisc, which is about the thickness of a piece of paper, with grooves that allows it to be played on a record player. The format was popular up until the 80s, as its size allowed it to be easily included as a giveaway in music magazines, before it fell out of favour as CDs, and later MP3s, took over. However, in recent years the format has started to reappear alongside the revival of vinyl, for reasons of not just nostalgia and novelty, but also economy (it is about three times cheaper to print a Flexidisc single than a comparable 7", "solid" vinyl). The one drawback of the format is that due to its slightly flimsy nature, the sound doesn't usually come out right, with a tendency to skip uncontrollably.

So, how does the Flexidisc of "Mirage" fare? There's only one way to find out -

Actually, there were several, but the option
 I went for was this one.

The good news is that the song managed to make it all the way to the end without skipping once. The even better news was that the sound quality was comparable with a standard, "solid" vinyl, with only a slightly more noticeable crackling sound.. If I hadn't bought the thing myself, I would never have known the difference. 

And the best news? The song on the Flexidisc by The Death of Pop, "Mirage", is a ruddy fine song indeed, very much reminiscent of the best shoegaze-y tunes that Ride ever recorded. You can listen to the song digitally below, but if you are able to, I very much recommend tracking down a copy that you can play on a record player, as the warmth and depth of the song is much better than in the stream. It's available to buy now from Art Is Hard Records, but given that it's a limited edition of 250, if you want to get it, you'd better be quick.

So, is Flexidisc the format of the future? It does have its limitations - music can only be pressed on one side of the disc, and although "Mirage" has held up well, other singles I've used on the format have been rather temperamental. Also, the use of the format could be seen as a gimmick which can detract from what should be the most important aspect - the music itself. 

However, it's a light and easy transportable product, and it is more affordable nature over "solid" 7" singles would make it handy for an artist on a budget to get their music onto record. Even so, we're probably not going to get an onslaught on artists releasing on the format in the foreseeable future, although if that did happen, I for one would not complain. 

The Death of Pop - Whenever

If you're going to give your band as grandiose and statement-making a name as The Death of Pop, then you'd better mark darn sure your music is darn near perfect. Thankfully, the Bournemouth 5-piece have absolutely nothing to worry about, at least if "Whenever" is anything to go by.

The song demonstrates the band's self-described 'janglegaze' sound, that is a song that mixes the sonic onslaught and introversion of shoegaze with the chiming guitars of jangle-pop, like it exists somewhere in the netherworld between My Bloody Valentine & Teenage Fanclub (with a member of the band wearing a t-shirt of the latter band in the above profile picture with such gloomy pride). It is also somewhat ironic that in spite of their name, the song is incredibly poppy and accessible, as a result of the irresistible vocal hook that just implores you to listen to the band again and again. Sound of 2015, anybody?

"Whatever" is taken from the E.P "Fifths", which will be released as a Flexidisk & zine on July 28th through Art Is Hard Records.

Cull - World Inside Your Head

What would British Sea Power sound like if they suddenly went down the shoegaze route and moved to Australia? One imagines that it might end up sounding something like "World Inside Your Head", the new single from Sydney based 4-piece Cull. The band recorded and engineered it at a makeshift studio situated under a loft bed, and in spite of the physical restrictions they have made an impressively expansive sound that could easily have been recorded in an aircraft hanger instead. "World Inside Your Head" stands out as a rather cinematic sounding track, one which wouldn't sound out of place soundtracking a David Attenborough documentary montage.

"World Inside Your Head" is taken from the band's E.P "Bà nội", which is due to be released at the end of October.

Star Horse - Devour E.P

It's nice to hear from a band who remind you that there's much more to Swedish music than just sleek indie-rock and aurally pleasing pop. Hailing from Stockholm, 4-piece group Star Horse ply their trade in that magnificent yet under appreciated genre known as shoegaze. Their third and most recent E.P, "Devour", is a great introduction to the band, and one which should become a firm favourite for fans of all things gaze.

All the important elements of the movement can be found across the E.Ps 4 tracks. Hushed vocals buried in the mix? Indeed. Lyrics which appear to have been chosen more for their rhythmic quality than for the meaning? Indeed. Guitars which have been distorted into dreamy soundscapes? Indeed, indeed, indeedio. In terms of a highlight of the E.P, you could do far worse than opening track "Hope To Feel A Hand", a track that harks back to the sound of My Bloody Valentine and Jesus & Mary Chain whilst incorporating electronic influences from some of the so-called "nu-gaze" bands of new. 

"Devour" is available to buy now, both as a download and a limited edition C.D. 

Sound and the Urgency - White Kids

The song "White Kids", in the words of Portland based Sound and the Urgency, is "a folktronic ode to shopping malls and future CEOs."

After the odd electric noodling of the first 50 seconds, the song settles into an expansive, acoustic driven track, which despite lyrics like 'I'm going to shoot them down with my gun,' is a surprisingly tender track, sounding not too dissimilar to the heartfelt rock of The Airbourne Toxic Event.

"White Kids" by Sound and the Urgency features on the band's self-titled debut album, and is available to download for free.

Letting Up Despite Great Faults - Teenage Tide

Shoegaze inspired music has never been as popular as it is at the moment. Bands of the past such as My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus and Mary Chain are revered with an almost fanatical following, while the influence of the movement can be heard in the music currently produced by Maps and Deerhunter. Not bad for a genre that started out as an insult.

One band that could be classified as 'nu-gaze' are the Los Angeles based group Letting Up Despite Great Faults. Their song 'Teenage Tide,' taken from their "Paper Crush E.P", is a bittersweet wall-of-sound barrage, that mixes the production value of M83 with the melodic songcraft of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Oh, to be young and in love (or alternatively, to be even younger and more in love)

The "Paper Crush E.P" is available now in America, and will be available from September 26th in Europe. Until then, "Teenage Tide" is available to download.

Pinkunoizu - Time is Like a Melody

Full Time Hobby has been one of my favourite indie record labels of recent times, with fantastic releases from School of Seven Bells, The Leisure Society and The Hold Steady coming out in the past year.

One of their most recent signings is the rather awkward to pronounce Pinkunoizu, a group that mix psychedelica, shoegaze and lo-fi influences into one mellow, easy to digest package, as evidenced on their song "Time Is Like a Melody," with its seemingly meaningless mantra taking on almost spiritual properties during the song's 3:43 duration. Let's hope that the Danish 4 piece continue to florish.

The song is available to download for free on the band's website.

Big Surr - Gone

Channeling the early 90s indie style of bands such as Ride and Black Tambourine are Nashville based group Big Surr. In pure hipster style, they released their debut E.P. 'Miss You Most' as a limited edition tape, in addition to MP3.

Taken from the E.P, here is "Gone", which mixes scuzzy guitars with honeyed vocals: