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Shoegaze music was something we bonded over and is something we look at through a broad lens. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s the emotional weight that the music evokes, it\u2019s almost unexplainable. The main focus is not something like the vocals\u2014 it\u2019s there as a layer. It\u2019s supposed to be drowned out and lost in this beautiful chaos of sound.\u201d Winick compared the genre\u2019s sound to \u201cepic,\u201d orchestral music from film scores he would listen to in his early teens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How does shoegazing affect the Canadian music scene though? Is shoegaze even a thing here and is it played on a national stage like the Junos? Yes actually, to both. In 2018, Alvvays won a Juno for Best Alternative Album of the Year for their second album Antisocialites (2017). Fast-forward to 2020, the CBC posted on Daniel Monkman and their project Zoon, an artist combining shoegazing with traditional Indigenous music, coining the term \u2018mocassin-gaze\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zoon had put out their first album Bleached Wavves in 2020 through Paper Bag Records, which made the Short List for the Polaris Prize. Monkman has also opened for July Talk, and with their other project Ombiigizi, are preparing for their first show at Massey Hall opening for Broken Social Scene. Currently, Zoon is touring the U.S., having just played the New Colossus Festival in New York and SXSW in Texas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They detailed how listening to 70s singer-songwriters at a young age played a big part in shaping the sound that became Zoon. \u201cThat melancholic feeling always stayed with me. When I write music, it just subconsciously comes out. At the same time, my culture was taken away from me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Monkman then details how becoming a \u201cborn-again Indian\u201d and learning about the \u201chypnotic nature\u201d of pow wow music combined with \u201csad, singer-songwriter music\u201d came naturally when they made Bleached Wavves. Shoegazing appealed to Monkman because initially, they never saw themselves as a lyricist. For them, there is solitude in distortion and their subconscious is able to express itself in a pure and vulnerable form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For those who might not be familiar with it, shoegazing might be seen as unconventional, abrasive and din-like. Chrisy Hurn-Morrison of the Hamilton-based group Basement Revolver feels that the genre was not given much of a chance, though she feels that given its history, it is not unconventional, citing bands like Low and Slowdive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA lot of shoegaze is very cyclical \u2014 it builds and builds. It feels nostalgic, which is weird because I didn\u2019t grow up with it. Something about it feels like magic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also hailing from Hamilton is Capitol\u2019s guitarist RJ Kemp, who sources listening to pop-punk growing up as something that bonded the band together. Pop-punk groups like Blink-182 were what led Kemp to The Cure. \u201cIt all started from there. The Cure is that perfect mix of dreamy guitars and that 80s, cold, post-punk feel and even straight up pop.\u201d Consequently, this led to Kemp\u2019s introduction to Slowdive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similar to Winick, Kemp credits the appeal to shoegaze to the sound of the guitar. \u201cIt\u2019s the most emotional a guitar can sound. There\u2019s so many layers \u2014 it can be so big, beautiful and soft. It\u2019s the most I\u2019ve been able to feel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n From 70s singer-songwriters to pop-punk, these are just a few examples of what has influenced Canada\u2019s shoegaze sound. When asked if shoegazing has influenced contemporary music, Kemp profoundly agreed that it \u201cinfinitely has. Even just the term has made guitarists wonder, \u2018what does that mean? Gazing at my shoes \u2014 why? Because of pedalboards? Interesting, I wanna try some pedals!\u2019 Even the subtle name of the genre itself has pushed experimentation forward for guitarists.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In pieces like My Bloody Valentine\u2019s \u201cSoon,\u201d the drum beat has the type of groove heard in a scene at the Bronze in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The production of a piece like Slowdive\u2019s \u201cRutti\u201d has such a timeless sound, it could be released today and has the potentiality to pass as an acclaimed, DIY, indie song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kemp also cites Joy Division as a group that paved the way for shoegaze groups, calling them the \u201cfirst emotional punk band.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both Hurn-Morrison and Kemp see Canada as a hub for a shoegaze revival. Kemp sings praises for Basement Revolver and says, \u201cit does feel like there\u2019s a birth of a movement here. I really hope it continues and that bigger festivals and artists respect the sound.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hurn-Morrison speaks fondly of Capitol and Zoon as well and says she\u2019d \u201clove to see people lift each other up. What made certain music scenes so iconic was that band\u2019s would support and promote each other. That culture that\u2019s built around that is so special, it would be a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In today\u2019s climate, shoegaze has intertwined with dream\/ambient pop, electronica, noise rock and black metal. Shoegaze has only existed for the better part of thirty years, so at this point, who knows what direction it could go from here?<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/basement-revolver-shoegaze.jpg\")