shoegaze
A subgenre of alternative rock characterized by swirling layers of distorted guitar, ethereal vocals buried in the mix, and an emphasis on texture over clarity.
In Depth
Shoegaze emerged in the late 1980s in the UK, earning its name from the tendency of performers to stare at their effects pedals during live shows rather than engaging with the audience. The genre is defined by dense walls of guitar feedback and distortion, heavy use of effects (reverb, chorus, tremolo, delay), and vocals that function more as another textural layer than as a focal point for lyrics.
My Bloody Valentine's Loveless (1991) is the genre's definitive statement — a record so densely layered that it nearly bankrupted Creation Records during its production. Slowdive, Ride, Lush, and Chapterhouse were other key acts of the original wave. The genre declined in the mid-1990s as Britpop and grunge dominated, but a massive revival from the 2010s onward brought new acts like Deafheaven, Nothing, and DIIV. Shoegaze's influence on later genres — dream pop, post-metal, blackgaze — has proven enormous.
My Bloody Valentine's Loveless reportedly cost over £250,000 and took two years to record — guitarist Kevin Shields used a tremolo bar technique while strumming that no one has convincingly replicated.