Los Angeles duo brightmoon have released their debut EP First Light (22 May, Noon Records). Becca and Billy Mohler’s brightmoon project is a “melange of shoegaze, indie-rock, and Brit-pop”. Listeners will hear streaks of Lush and Throwing Muses, as well as the influence of My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth and other 90s indie rock. All instruments and production are at the hand of Billy and the dreamy pop vocals and lyrics are the work of Becca. The band’s name is inspired by Bright Moon, the imaginary land of the animated superhero series She-Ra: The Princess of Power, a favourite of Becca.

While the pair currently live in the LA area, I learned that the two met on the East Coast – Becca grew up in my neck of the USA woods, the North East, and Billy is a graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston. The two were also in War Tapes and have toured with bands like Smashing Pumpkins, She Wants Revenge, The Bravery and Tiger Army. Billy is a critically-acclaimed musician and songwriter who has worked with the likes of Nile Rodgers, Allison Krauss, and Dolly Parton to name just a few. In this Q+A Becca and Billy offer some background about the brightmoon project and forthcoming EP. You’ll learn the background of two of their tracks, how they got to working with Sheffield, UK-based Noon Records and a few LA contemporaries they love listening to. Hint: one of them plays a harp. Plus, I just had to ask Billy what it was like to work with Dolly.

Has She-ra remained close to your heart, Becca? What’s a cherished memory you have related to the character or series?

Becca: I have always loved She-ra, and even saved an original Angella action figure from my childhood, though she is missing her wings. When the revamped series came out not too long ago, I fell in love with the She-ra story all over again. And the idea of Bright Moon, the place, inspired the name brightmoon for our band.

Becca, you are from the east coast but now live in LA - how does the West Coast suit you?

Becca: Well I have been here many years now, but I can say it took awhile to adjust. Now I really like the West Coast. I can feel the subtle changes to the seasons and appreciate how they are different from the more extreme seasons I experienced growing up in Massachusetts. To this day I still can not believe that you can drive from the ocean to the desert to the mountains in one day. And I will never not be amazed by the vastness and wild beauty of California!

Billy, am I allowed to ask how it felt to work with Dolly Parton?

Billy: Yes of course.....working with Dolly Parton was a dream! She’s such an incredible person and is otherworldly talented, such an inspiration to be around.

You both play bass - how did you two meet?

Becca: We met in Washington D.C. when Billy was touring and I was working for a record label. We hit it off immediately and ended up dating long distance for 2 years before I made the jump and moved to LA! We joke that it was a sliding doors moment, easily both of us could have done something different that day, but ended up in the same place at the same time. I did not play bass at that time, only guitar. But once I was out in LA, we started a band with my brother called War Tapes! Billy played the drums in the band and I picked up the bass! Now in brightmoon Billy is on guitar and I am still on bass :)

I hear Juliana Hatfield, Kim Deal, Throwing Muses and Lush in these songs, which obviously shows my age, but what do younger listeners tell you they hear?

Becca: Thank you, we love all those artists you mentioned so we appreciate that you have heard touches of each of them in our music. I would say we have heard references to Alvvays and Sea Lemon.

The songs of the EP are all guitar-driven, meaning you have not used any synths - why did you choose to go that way?

Billy: We wanted to create the music with the live sound we had in our heads. We knew we wanted two guitars, bass and drums when playing out, so we tried to stick to that concept in the production as much as we could.

Are there stories about the closing track “With Each Move You Make” and the title track “First Light”?

Becca: Both tracks are deeply introspective for me and are versions of a similar concept. “First Light” is a bit more abstract, While “With Each Move You Make” is a more direct approach, almost speaking directly rather than skirting around the edges. But both deal with what I think many of the lyrics in the EP lean to which is trying, failing, trying again, failing again, and ultimately having the realization that nothing will change so it is what it is and accept it.

How have you connected with listeners outside of your immediate city?

Becca: We have a little! We were invited to play a shoegaze festival in the Midwest, unfortunately travel and dates didn’t work for us. But it was really nice that they reached out and had heard of us! Hopefully, as we release more songs, we will continue to get our music out and heard in more places.

How did you end up working with Noon Records?

Becca: We finished some songs and thought it would be cool to release them with a label if we could find a small, boutique label, with common musical tastes and passions. We started researching online and came across some mentions about Noon Records. We reached out and here we are now! We are so grateful to have the artist support from Noon Records. We really admire and are huge fans of the entire roster of bands on Noon!!! We love what the label is doing, curating this amazing collective of creative artists and musicians!

What’s a song that you’d love brightmoon to cover?

Becca: We were so excited to cover Shudder to Think’s “Lies About the Sky” - one of our favorite songs of all time. If we were to do another cover I think a Grandaddy song would top the list or a Built to Spill song!

Is there a new or rising artist outside of pop and rock that you really dig at the moment?

Billy: Yes, we love Mary Lattimore and SML!

What do you have planned for the rest of this year?

Becca: We plan to continue to write and record more music, hopefully aim to release another EP later this year and just keep putting out new songs. We are playing a record release show in Long Beach, CA in May, but hope to schedule more shows throughout the summer!

Follow brightmoon on Instagram and Bandcamp for news on upcoming releases.

You can also find Noon Records on Instagram and Bandcamp.

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When I was in the U.S. for Easter last month, I asked my dad, sister and mom if they had memories of albums that they owned when they were teenagers. I was interested in the albums as objects as much as how they remembered listening to these. I sometimes forget (then remember) how communal music could be in the pre-digital era. People borrowed things from friends* or siblings and even if you had your own copy of something, it didn’t mean you listened to it privately. I figured asking about this would lead to some good stories and memories.

It took people a few minutes to arrive at a memorable album when I asked. For my dad, I asked when we were in the car in the parking lot of Veano’s, a local dining haunt in Concord, NH. His memorable album was one by Crosby, Stills & Nash. It took a few songs to identify which album, but we landed on their self-titled album from 1969 by way of “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”. He also mentioned “Almost Cut My Hair” and probably those purple berries from “Wooden Ships”. Although “Almost Cut My Hair” is on a different album, there is a reference to cutting one’s hair (to get yourself elected) on this album in the song “Long Time Gone”.

I love this album. “Guinnevere” is my favourite for the colours it details (green eyes, golden hair, an orange tree). The wild ‘do-do-do-do-do’ down at the end of Suite: Judy Blue Eyes is pretty darn good too! 😆 Four types of birds are mentioned across this album’s songs: a chestnut-brown canary, a ruby-throated sparrow, peacocks wandering aimlessly and seagulls circling endlessly. “Marrakesh Express” is my least favourite and I can only express why by doing a funny dance - the kind where I would need a cane and top hat. 😆 I only learned recently that Cass Elliott sings back-up vocals on “Pre-Road Downs”… I still think it’s difficult to hear her though. I would have listened to this album in high school in the early 90s, in my bedroom or hanging out with friends in a car. I asked my dad where he listened to this album. I figured it must have been in a common room at home with the family hi fi system, in contrast to today where people have their own personal (and portable) devices.

“Records were played in a common room at the old house on Battle Street in Webster. This was a combo TV, radio and record player. It was in a big open room upstairs. We also had a ping-pong table up there. Dad taught Bruce and I how to play ping-pong and I think we got pretty good at it too.”

I wondered where my grandfather learned to play ping-pong.

“Probably learned it in the army. We usually had to play one of his albums too - Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass - while playing ping-pong.”

Herb Alpert energy seems appropriately intense for table tennis matches!

“Yes, good memories.”

I also asked my uncle Bruce for his memories.

“Epic ping-pong battles with Gene and Dad. Not sure we got the best of him very many times - he was an athlete and very competitive and always fun to be with.”

Some other albums Bruce and my dad remember were by Steppenwolf, Iron Butterfly and the Beach Boys.

My sister had a strong memory of Janet Jackson’s album Control. It was an album she remembers dancing to with our step-sister Amy.

My mom couldn’t quite remember a specific album she owned as a teenager though my dad remembers her liking James Taylor and Carole King.

Do you have a strong memory of an album or other physical copy of music? I’d love to hear your story!

*One of my strongest memories of a physical album was a cassette I had of Echo and the Bunnymen’s 1987 self-titled album. I let a friend borrow it after we played it in their car. They didn’t return it promptly, and I kept asking, which made me really annoyed. 😆 It’s perhaps my first memory of a piece of personal ‘property’ being appropriated by a friend. I did eventually get it back though I no longer have it.

I also remember Kim and I occasionally got the old 45s that were removed from the jukebox where our Mom worked - one was “Axel F” by Harold Faltermeyer, from the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack. 😆 We had a portable children’s record player to play it on and I’m pretty sure I tried to scratch with it. 🤣🤣🤣

In the category “listen more closely”, a small stack of my recent CD purchases consisted of Auburn Lull re-issues from Darla Records. Auburn Lull is a band that I became aware of in the late-90s through college radio. I think the station I was involved with was lucky to receive Burnt Hair releases and other gems from the Michigan scenes of the time, though WUNH also had a reasonably well respected reputation in the rodeo known as college radio. As I often remark, music moved much slower then. You couldn’t easily buy or download a copy of something, especially independent releases. Indie labels and artists sent promo copies of releases. I would make mixtapes of things that I liked in the studio at the station. Limited DIY releases did not travel far without some effort. Luckily there was effort. Some people became pen pals. Connections between bands, labels, fans, clubs, radio, and like-minded scenes in faraway places were made over space and time. Tight or tenuous, intense or spare, the connections related to music were meaningful – at least to me they were and still are.

I never owned copies of these Auburn Lull albums until now, so it makes me quite happy to have them. Although I have spent time streaming them, it’s always interesting to have notes, images, and dates to connect with what you’re listening to. It was in this process of comparing what I had been listening to on Apple Music with the CDs that I realized there are two 10-minute tracks, each titled “Untitled”, at the end of the albums Alone I Admire and Cast from the Platform. Having come across other small details of difference on Apple Music, I wondered if these were actually the same or what the story was. Only one of them is listed – on the CD version of Alone I Admire. The other seemed to be a twelfth mystery track on the Cast from the Platform CD.

So, of course I had to ask about these two hidden tracks… and come to find out, there is even a third!

Below is my micro Q+A with Jason Kolb of Auburn Lull about the “Untitled” tracks, as well as links to each album and my listening notes.

Q: Cast from the Platform and Alone I Admire both end with tracks titled “Untitled” though this track is not listed on the CD of Cast from the Platform. Were these mystery tracks at the time or is there some other story about these two 10-minute whoppers?

Jason: At the time, those tracks were meant to be untitled mysteries. We had this grand plan that all three (including untitled 3 from Begin Civil Twilight) could be played on different stereos at the same time because they’re all in the same key. However, it doesn’t really work. I envisioned this Eno-type installation one day where we could try it, but that was just youthful dreaming!

If there’s anyone out there who has put the hidden Auburn Lull suite to the test on three stereos, I’d love to hear about it! Otherwise, perhaps someday there will be a listening party that brings together these three mystery tracks and Auburn Lull fans for ten (or thirty?) minutes of audio bliss.

You can find Auburn Lull on Bandcamp and follow along on Instagram for insight on related current happenings.

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Two reviews caught my eye in this month’s issue of Oor, both by the same reviewer. This person is a frequent contributor of reviews to Oor and often covers bands in the indie / alternative sphere, often shoegaze related, but not always. Dutch is not my first language and I don’t claim to be fluent in it, but I do take the time to read these short reviews at home in the print magazine. These short pieces sometimes form the basis of an informal lesson with a native Dutch speaker. When I think I understand the words and the tone of the review, I read it out loud in my best (or worst!) Dutch accent. If the listener laughs, I assume I got it almost kinda sorta right. 😆 I usually don't agree with this particular reviewer’s take on albums and wonder why they draw on inaccessible comparisons or irrelevant information instead of just explaining what they hear and letting the reader decide for themselves.

What irked me recently is not the usual use of half of the words of the column to tell something that is already well known or covered elsewhere. It’s blatant age-ism against a woman, one who happens to be close to my own age.

This review of Paula Kelley’s latest album digs into Paula’s "childlike voice” equating her to the Teletubby known as Tinky Winky… who should ‘rightly’ be strangled for sounding irritating. What is more is that Paula’s age is noted by the reviewer and shamed for sounding like a child at her age.

The review goes on to wonder why Paula Kelley doesn’t sound like she did in the Drop Nineteens.

I’ll admit that I am very allergic to child-like vocals in music; I don’t enjoy listening to it. I test it out every now and then, to see if I’m still allergic. I often characterize my dislike for it as ‘baby doll’ vocals, which I realize is not very nice. This sound has it’s place in highly stylized pop I suppose, but it’s just not my thing. This is perhaps why I have mixed feelings about the band Deary, but more on that below.

I don’t really care for Paula Kelley’s voice on most of the songs on her new release Blinking As the Starlight Burns Out, though the opening track “Party Line” is okay. Several tracks are super shiny and overly polished pop. “God Will Someone Tell Me” sounds like a Cardigans-esque romp and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, why this reviewer holds Paula Kelley accountable for her voice not sounding her age, I don’t understand and find unacceptable. How many music reviews can you think of where a man’s age is brought into account for anything? Let’s not even get into comparing a woman with a Teletubby or suggesting that someone deserves to be strangled! Where are the reviews saying that Stephen Tyler should sound like his age or start wearing an appropriate number of scarves or jewelry for someone in his late 70s?! Why is Paula Kelley’s age relevant to mention here?

If I had to sum up Blinking As the Starlight Burns Out, Paula Kelley has made songs that sound like they would fit perfectly as the soundtrack for an American retail shopping experience – you know, teen girls shopping at wherever they shop for clothes nowadays. Perhaps Paula knows exactly what she’s doing here.

A recent tune featuring Paula Kelley that I do like is “Angus Says” by Chatham Rise.

Unfortunate for you reader, I am not done, but of course you can always quit now.

Deary’s new album Birding is also covered in the latest issue of Oor. The review starts off talking about an amusement park in The Netherlands, Efteling. The album’s sound is compared to a ride where you hang above the ground, but instead of being thrown to the heavens, you instead sway your way through mist, shadows and… waving mechanical elves???

There is not much more to learn (or imagine) in the review … Cocteau Twins, Slowdive, English dream pop legacy, bla bla blaaa. Perhaps the most useful comment to me is band member Ben Easton quoted as saying, “our last EP was us trying to be deary. This album is us being deary.” I wonder if he knows that a reviewer out there thinks that sounds like waving mechanical elves lost in the misty shadows of the woods?

Press info about Birding notes the album revolves around birds and “feathered friends” as well as the “direct impact humans have on the world around us”. According to Ben Easton, “the album is all about human consequences”. I find this interesting because I have always associated birds in music with freedom – the feeling of it, the desire for it, sometimes the loneliness that comes along with it. I start to wonder if this is another point of my disconnect with Deary.

I think there are some nice elements of Birding though overall it feels like background music to me. Perhaps thanks to Dottie Cockram’s vocals being, as the reviewer suggests, “more texture than text and largely dissolved in walls of guitars and reverb”. Agreed and also nothing wrong with that or with background music.

I also find it interesting that Deary’s social media presence seems intent on sharing a lot of process towards final product, whether that product be the music itself or a video for a song. For some reason Deary doesn’t feel like a band for someone like me, or to come back to age, maybe it’s just not music for someone my age? I don’t know. I note that the reviewer doesn’t pick on Dottie Cockram’s age when describing her voice as “high and thin”. Definitely doesn’t sound like a Teletubby, does it?!

The outlier on Birding is “Garden of Eden”, an acoustic number which I like because I imagine it being performed by someone else. I don’t mean that as a dig either. Weirdly that someone else is Robert Plant and Jimmy Page. Yes, seriously. Good or bad, better or worse, I don’t know! It’s just my imagination wandering.

I’m not sure where this leaves anything about music reviews for me other than disappointed. Is a singer’s age relevant to their sound, to an album review? Should Stephen Tyler cut back on jewelry???? Just kidding! Of course he shouldn’t!

I am interested to hear what others think of these two albums or my take on these reviews OR EVEN STEPHEN TYLER. I’m open to critique and your imagination too!

To close my rant, I’ll just add this slice of Dave Grohl in apparent guitar ecstasy on the cover of the magazine. 🤣

If you’ve ever felt a desire to disappear with the gentle but formidable force of nature, Jorden kallar is the perfect soundtrack to vanish with. Swedish for “the Earth beckons” Jorden kallar is composed of nine whisper-light songs by Sofia Nystrand, a Stockholm-based multi-media artist. Working with creative partner Jakob Lindhagen and Swedish female folk choir LYN, Sofia delicately stretches stillness into loudness, bringing worry under the command of a magical spell.

“I wanted to explore my own thoughts on grief and the worry I feel for the times we are living in, where conflict and ecological decline are part of everyday life,” explains Sofia.

She also believes we dearly need hope.

“That awe of our surroundings, and the joy to discover them in a time where connection sometimes feels weakened is what I want to bring to others through these new songs.”

Hope comes by way of haunt on Jorden kallar, the songs eliciting a sense of collective grief that leads to altered consciousness and renewed connection with what it means to be human. “Skogen kallar” reminds of David Crosby’s haunting 1971 a cappella “I’d Swear There was Somebody Here”. A darker electro-twist of uncertainty introduces itself in “Älvdans” interrupting otherwise sparse but stable piano and waves of synth.

Sofia kindly answered a few questions about these songs and her work exploring Scandinavian folklore and human connection with nature… she even tells the story of the dancing fog fairies.

//wendy

Are there stories behind these two songs, “Skogen kallar” and “Älvdans”?

Sofia: I’ve always been interested in Scandinavian folklore and in my new album Jorden kallar I’ve let those parts of me come out a little bit more than before. The track “Skogen kallar” (“the forest is calling”) was written kind of as a lament about the beauty we have surrounding us. I had this idea of the forest as a friend, beckoning the person listening to enter, to come back and to realise the wonder we sometimes miss. In the times where ecology seems to be less and less valued I wanted to make songs where I put it front and center.

In Sweden there is an old folk saying called “Älvdans” that when the fog is laying low over the ground, it’s because the fairies, or Dísir, are dancing. No matter what they say, you can not follow them into the dance, because then you will be pulled under the hill and dance until you die. I wanted the track to have this pull to kind of join this otherworldly event that you know you really shouldn’t be a part of.

I assume that your lyrics are in Swedish? Not knowing Swedish, I am curious about these two songs because one reminds me of something else and the other feels like a dark point in the album.

Sofia: I sing in my native language, Swedish, but I’ve always been a part of a very international scene, where I think there can be an exciting thing about not knowing the lyrics. One of my favourite bands is Icelandic Sigur Rós and through their vocals I’ve always felt a sense of wonder, even without understanding exactly what they are saying, it’s just this magic, and I hope people who don’t speak Swedish will feel it in my music too.

But in this album there is always this darker question, about what happens to folk stories when nature disappears, and I think that is a part of what you are picking up on.

Are you the lead vocalist, backed by the choir LYN? Also, are you playing piano, synths or any other instruments?

Sofia: I'm the main person behind Vargkvint even though my partner Jakob Lindhagen always has had a big role in the music as well. For this album we also wrote a lot of the music together. I am the main vocalist and I also play the piano on most of the tracks, Jakob plays a lot of harmonium and the synths. And then we also had the pleasure of being joined by the Scandinavian folk choir LYN who sang with me on all the choir arrangements, that has surely been a treat.

How does Jorden kallar as an album compare sonically to your earlier works?

Sofia: I think it is different in many ways; it of course builds a lot on my second album Månens hav (The oceans of the moon), since both of them have been recorded in German pianist and composer Nils Frahms’ LEITER studio in Berlin alongside the amazing engineer Antonio Pulli. It does something special when you come into a studio like that, it gives a certain awe just in the air that it moves. But this album is also a bit bigger sonically. I wanted to explore a lot more and to use a lot of instruments. Since the theme is also completely different, this time it's kind of a lament for all the forests, I wanted this album to have more of an earthy sound. And of course there is the beautiful choir made by LYN, a four-piece folk choir that is so immensely talented. I'm so glad to have had the pleasure to work with them. It's been a long time dream to work with more female vocalists and this one really came true under the most beautiful of circumstances. We took the night train together to Berlin and recorded them and it was just such a beautiful experience.

Is there something unique to Swedish folk music that you include in your works?

Sofia: I think one main thing this time is in the lyrics since some of them are centered around older myths, such as “Älvdans” and the story of the Dísir, but there is also a great deal of tonality that can be heard in some of the songs. I wrote the piano piece “Sagolandet” based on a Finnish tango that is really beautiful; it’s called “Saatuma” and it also has this perfect depiction of longing that I think is central in Scandinavian folk music. There is always a sort of pull towards something – a home, a lover, a forest. I think that is what sings to me in folk music and that I try to capture in my music as well.

You note that you hope these songs can give listeners a sense of awe and joy in their surroundings. What elements are necessary for people to feel a renewed sense of connection with nature and other human beings?

Sofia: For this album I’ve been inspired by the Romantic era, and how it became a reaction to the Industrial Revolution. Artists wanted to create a new focus on the beautiful and otherworldly around us, and I can strongly relate to that. The need to just stop and to admire something that is incredibly beautiful and important, while at the same time being just something that exists in the background of our busy lives, such as a leaf or an insect that has landed in your window.

All over the world people have their folk stories connected to their surroundings. I guess my larger question for the whole album is “What happens to the stories if the forests are cut down?” Will they still exist? I think by inviting the romantic, or otherworldly eye into the music, I hope people will remember that awe and have a chance to realise the importance of nature. We are all part of nature, it is not just a commodity.

Jorden kallar will be released on 24 April 2026, available on limited edition bio vinyl and streaming platforms. Opening track “Forsen” was released on 10 March with accompanying stop-motion video created by Sofia. In the video a moth explores its surroundings, which in this case are decaying flowers, scaley bark, dried twigs, and lush moss. “I knew I wanted to capture the beauty of nature, but at the same time I also wanted the video to give way for something more uncomfortable,” Sofia explained. A third single “Att komma hem” will be released after “Älvdans”.

Follow Vargkvint on Bandcamp, Instagram or Facebook and find more videos on YouTube.

ALCATUNE, based in Lisbon, Portugal is a band for fans of heavy shoegaze. “Floatland” is the fourth single from ALCATUNE’s forthcoming album Re-entry Guidance For A Crash. Although lead man David Lopes refers to it as one of the more “restrained and spacious moments” on the new album, I think the track is characteristic of what he often says about their aesthetic: “AMBIENT BUT LOUD”.

David and Marisa are both very talented and committed artists. I had the pleasure of meeting them in person last year in Lisbon and will also say they are both extremely kind and cool people. They are both involved in various projects - I’ve noted some links at the bottom of this Q+A.

//wendy

Is there a lyrical story in “Floatland”?

The song speaks about a silence, something that is left behind, yet remains present, like a whisper that is, at the same time, a contained scream.

You’ve worked with Marisa before and she sings on a track (“Tamed”) from your last album. How do you and Marisa work together? What is your creative process?

Regarding the creative process behind “Floatland”, the track emerged from a series of jams that allowed creativity to develop in a relaxed yet organic way. Beyond the studio, life itself played a crucial role — nights out, people, events, and the overall atmosphere of that period. Conversations and shared influences naturally filtered into the music, shaping the song’s mood and direction.

In terms of the other songs and overall sound on the upcoming album, where does “Floatland” fit in?

Compared to the other tracks, it’s one of the more restrained and spacious moments on the record. Where much of the album leans into compression, tension, and impact, “Floatland” allows things to hover. Sonically, it still belongs to the same world — the same textures, the same emotional gravity — but it’s less confrontational.

Can you tell us about the concept of the upcoming album?

Conceptually, the title (in the context of human relationships) can be understood as:

• Re-entry: the return to the atmosphere after suspension, escape, or dissociation. Coming back to the body, to reality, to the world — knowing the fall is inevitable.

• Guidance: systems, protocols, inner voices that promise control, order, or safety. A constructed sense of direction.

• For A Crash: the acknowledgement that impact will happen. There is no soft landing — only collision.

How does the new album compare with your last album? Is there something new you experimented with? Is there something you left behind?

Compared to our last album (The Dust, Over The Years), Re-entry Guidance For A Crash feels less like observation and more like impact.

The previous record was more atmospheric and expansive — it left space to breathe, drift, and contemplate. This new album is tighter, heavier, and more deliberate. The structures are more focused, the tension is sustained for longer, and there’s a clearer sense of narrative running through the whole record. What we left behind was a certain softness and ambiguity. There’s less reliance on long, floating passages and more emphasis on confrontation and compression. The album doesn’t try to soothe — it commits to friction, weight, and directness. Overall, it’s a step toward clarity through collision: fewer gestures, more consequences.

How is the shoegaze scene in Portugal at the moment? Are there any new bands we should check? Is there anything unique that characterises the scene or sounds lately?

There are a few underground and DIY artists in Portugal with a shoegaze or shoegaze-influenced sound — for example bands like Clauthewitch, Icosandria, Sweet Nico, but some fans note that shoegaze in Portugal is still quite niche, with fewer clearly defined bands compared to other parts of Europe — and often blending with adjacent vibes like dream pop, post-punk or goth.

Do you have upcoming shows or other news to share?

There are some shows to be announced very soon.

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You can listen to three other singles from the forthcoming ALCATUNE album on Bandcamp and YouTube. For deeper cuts into the work of Marisa Anunciação and David Lopes, check out Lake Geneva on Bandcamp. You’ll find links to Marisa’s and David’s other projects via Instagram. ALCATUNE was also featured on the blank mood blog back in its very early days.

Drexler is the ambient, contemporary classical project of composer and multi-instrumentalist Adrian Leung. His album Olympia-5 is a tender collection of songs that grew out of improvised piano recordings sent to his father during a period of illness. Olympia-5 conveys emotions related to family, memory and the desire to express care and comfort from a distance. The recordings are described by the artist as invitations to alternative modes of connectivity, free of words – a sort of counter to exchanges dominated by medical updates during his father’s time in hospital.

Personally, connection with people far away, sometimes even close by, never feels certain; it is dynamic and always in process, varying in intensity, depth and interpretation. Losing it can leave you to distrust the reassurance and relief that is sought and found in its process. That loss and distrust can lead to grief. It is that process of expression and interpretation, sometimes painful, luckily also joyful, that Drexler seems to capture with these songs.

Olympia-5’s track list is like flipping through an old photo album, but the pictures are words convey everyday items and snapshots. “Benson” is named after Benson and Hedges, the cigarettes his father used to smoke. “Ewing” recalls basketball player Patrick Ewing and a secret language shared among siblings. “One in Two Chance” refers to his father’s triple bypass surgery. “Olympia-5” is the name of a clinical trial that his father was supposed to participate in.

“At its core, this album is about care and that quiet, unsettling transition where you begin to look after your parents rather than the other way around,” Adrian explains. “It’s about distance, and the guilt that comes with building a life far from home as your parents grow older.”

Who should listen to Olympia-5?
I think Olympia-5 is for anyone who enjoys music that gives them space to think, to be present, to meditate, and to experience calm and stillness. I hope the themes of care and living far from home resonate with listeners and give them room to reflect on their own memories and experiences.

These songs began during a period of communicating with your father while he was in hospital, far away. Some were improvised piano recordings sent to him. How did he respond to these wordless messages?
I think art and music have always been things my dad finds hard to relate to. He often encouraged me to pursue a teaching diploma, even though I had always wanted to be a composer. As an immigrant from Hong Kong, I think stability was incredibly important to him, and careers like being a doctor, accountant, or lawyer felt safer paths. While I know he appreciated the gesture of me sending him the music, I don’t think he fully understands the love and intention behind it.. which is fine!

What is different about your forthcoming collection of songs on Olympia-5 compared to previous work?
The main difference is that these pieces all came from an improvisatory mindset. They were written very quickly and came directly from a need to process my thoughts about my father: what life might be like without him, living far away from him, and my childhood memories of him. I was initially hesitant to release a solo piano record, as there is so much of it out there, but it made sense to work on the piano so I could quickly write and send music to my dad.

You worked with mixing engineer Bobby Williams, who reimagined the recordings through pedals and textures. How did the songs evolve emotionally through this process? Would you ever release the original improvisations?
I don’t think I would release the original improvisations. I really love the way Bobby shaped these pieces and feel that this is how they should exist now. I am incredibly lucky to have worked with him -e is meticulous, open-minded, and deeply collaborative. For some tracks, I wanted the piano to sound natural and familiar. For others, I wanted something more abstract, dreamy, distorted, and textured. This contrast allows the listener to move through different emotional spaces, with each piece reflecting a different memory of my life with my dad.

Where does the name Drexler come from?
The name comes from Clyde Drexler, a basketball player from the 80s and 90s who played for the Portland Trail Blazers.

Aside from Drexler, you compose for film, television, and brands. Does having a specific audience or age group in mind change your approach?
When I work on film, television, or branded projects, my role is to serve the narrative and complement the imagery. With Drexler, the focus is on telling my own story. In terms of age, it’s not something I consciously consider when writing music.

You often work with filmmakers to create visual accompaniments to your music. What do you look for in a collaborator?
Many of the filmmakers I worked with on this project are artists I have collaborated with before or people whose work I admire. I feel very fortunate that so many talented directors gave me their time and energy. I think the initial hope was that they would connect with the story behind the music, then take it somewhere personal. I’m a believer that once the music is released, it no longer belongs solely to me. I hope that listeners will find their own meanings from the pieces and similarly for the filmmakers, I hope the music will inspire something that helps tell their own story.

Filmmaker Hannah Papacek Harper put your song “Prague” to words and visuals with a short film. Can you tell us a bit about that collaboration?

The words in the video for “Prague” were all written by Hannah. We discussed the themes behind the music and her film is a response from those conversations. Returning to the US for the first time in many years, she also began to reflect on family roots which were left dormant.

“When one does not have a solid sense of place, life is an ongoing search for kinship with other wandering souls. This collaboration with Adrian has been a way to share our constant tearing between two places. Returning to the USA for the first time in 16 years, I was also tending to family roots kept untouched for so long. These tendrils are the ones that also bind me to my father, and they opened that space for me to reflect on Adrian’s own intentions to connect with his. His track Prague triggered my obsessive creative process which brings me to listen to music on repeat while writing. While walking the streets with this tune in my ears and my old camera in hand, I was able to process both grief and uncertainty through a space of co-creation and through the grounding structure of architecture in this place that was both so foreign and familiar to me.” Hannah Papacek Harper

What do you have planned for 2026?
I’m currently discussing an album launch in Edinburgh, where I live. This would take place in February and would be a hybrid of a film screening, live performance, and listening party. I’m also working on new string music that I hope to develop with an ensemble and potentially tour. Alongside this, I’ve recently been inspired by artists like Labrinth, Rosalía, Sampha, and Fred Again, and am interested in exploring something more modern, incorporating beats and potentially moving towards a more lyric-driven, song-based structure.

Piano compositions are not my usual go-to, but I’m so glad Olympia-5 found me. I kept returning to “Cleanse” for a strange familiarity that I could not place, until finally it came to me: John Lennon’s “Imagine” and the theme from M*A*S*H (“Suicide Is Painless” by Johnny Mandel), two hefty moods stricken with sadness. Drexler’s track notes confirm the song reflects a low point in his father’s recovery.

2026 already feels like a great year for ambient and loud calm sounds. The headspace that amcan afford the listener. Let me know what you’re listening to, what’s clearing your head or keeping you connected.

//wendy

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TIDES is a compilation of ambient and electronic sounds exploring the boundaries of contemporary listening. Released 6 February by independent label Inglorious Ocean, TIDES is a “collective journey through ever-shifting soundscapes, where synthesizers, expansive textures and sparse rhythms intertwine in an emotional flow suspended between intimacy and abstraction”.

The compilation’s title is a metaphor for the vision of the Inglorious Ocean community: “a context in which individuality is not lost but amplified through connection with others, and personal exploration opens onto a shared landscape”.

The majority of contributions to TIDES come from Italian artists, among them is “The Centre” by Sicilian multi-instrumentalist and producer Laura Caviglia, known artistically as Silver Y. “The Centre” begins with timid and uncertain emotion. Small up-turns toward stability surface, while de-stabilising waves make themselves apparent, working against the gains in stability. “The Centre” reaches its settling point and quiets. There is a quick reassurance that stability has been restored, but also a subtle, yet dark reminder that it can always be lost.

When I asked Laura about the track, she reflected on it as one composed while working to regain her own centre – that anchor that many of us feel is missing or unbalanced during an unhappy period or challenging life event.

“The control you normally have over what happens in your life – your decisions, your perception of yourself,” Laura explained, “you can feel yourself more susceptible to external forces than to your own voice in these moments.”

Other favourites on TIDES include “Downtempo Void” by Perry Frank, “Bois Franc” by Antoine Gagné, and “Call of the Void” by Chelidon Frame. Not sure why I was drawn to the voids, but there you go!

“Downtempo Void” by Perry Frank brings warmer sounds of effected guitar, warbled and blown out, like a storm moving along its path, bringing your awareness to someone else’s stormy now, off in the distance. A degree of lament is detected, as in Kevin Shields’ “Goodbye” from the Lost In Translation soundtrack – that sadness in confronting the dawn of a new day, parting with a euphoric experience, filing it away definitively among memories.

Perry Frank is the project of Francesco Perra, known for its atmospheric soundscapes blending shoegaze, noise, glitch and post-rock. “Downtempo Void” was written during the sessions of my new album Scenario,” Francesco explained. “It was inspired by a mix of sadness and melancholy that I was feeling in that period.”

“Call of the Void” by Chelidon Frame (Alessio Premoli) is an expansive and oppressive front, punctured by a safety line that is too frail to rescue you.

“Actually, the track is a very personal one for me, inspired by some life events in 2025,” Alessio told me. The “call of the void” is a very dark theme in psychology – an urge to do something dangerous even though you don’t intend to actually do it. I wrote down the title in a notebook, forgetting about its meaning. When I closed the track, I found that notebook again and felt it was the perfect title for the atmosphere created.”

“Bois Franc” by Antoine Gagné, the only of the artists from outside of Italy, is anxious and furious with sudden gasps for air.

Overall, the compositions of the TIDES compilation feel personal, but universal. As the label notes, “each track stands as an autonomous presence while remaining interconnected, part of a continuum that invites deep, contemplative, and immersive listening”.

Follow Inglorious Ocean on Instagram for a track-by-track guide through TIDES.

Read more about Silver Y and her debut album In the Depths in this blank mood Q+A. Her album In the Depths is available on CD for a friendly price.

You can catch Perry Frank live in Leeds, UK on 14 March (Ambient Leeds). His new album Scenario is available on CD, also for a friendly price.

Have a look/listen of Chelidon Frame’s data sonifications.

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No Statue by ff8282 is progressive muscle relaxation for the mind; sounds for a quiet space with emotional neutrality. Best listened to in its entirety, the album starts with minor fits of tension, which eventually soften through textured interference. There is an openness required of the listener, much like preparing for a planetarium show: turn the lights down so there are no distractions to your imagination, let go of what you know, life is heavy on Earth.

“Each piece is drenched in a maelstrom of audio stretched to dream-like degrees, sounds never intended for listening,” notes Brisbane-based artist April Emily.

That’s it right there: ‘sounds never intended for listening’.

Interestingly, and at odds with my own listening experience, the artist explains that a particular scene from a crime drama informs the mood of No Statue. I’ll leave listeners to discover which series and scene over at ff8282 Bandcamp.

I don’t want to sound trite in referring to planetarium music. I could also describe this album in food terms: easily absorbed, like butter on a warm roll…the kind of butter with micro-shards of salt, not afraid to make themselves apparent at moments because they know they belong there and make the whole thing better.

I love food. I love planetarium shows, especially when they wash over you like educational ASMR. Coming back down to Earth feels like a total bummer, just like eating the last cookie. At least with music, it’s much easier to go back to over and over again.

If you like Windy & Carl’s Antarctica, or some of the washed out guitar sounds of Neil Halstead on Mary Lattimore’s Silver Ladders, I think you’ll appreciate No Statue. April Emily brings quiet attention to sounds, inviting you to listen rather than just hear.

Favourite tracks: “aug16” and “doir”

ff8282 is the solo project of Meanjin/Brisbane, Australia artist April Emily. ff8282’s music comes from a personal space, coupling quiet reflections with noisy atmospheres. No Statue was released digitally and on a super-duper-limited run of cassettes by 4000 Records. Each of the five cassettes is unique in design and (extra) sounds.

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Save this email for a slow moment on the sofa to wander through recent highlights from the blog, plus some other stuff. Several bands from North America featured, thoughts on a few new releases, and a 29th episode of the show, digging in with heavy shoegaze then leaning towards loud calm sounds.

First, the other stuff…

Hot beverage lately: Nicaragua Maragogype drip brew, Lloyd Caffee.

Next gig: Grauzone Festival, 7 February in The Hague.

Contemplating: ReWire Festival, 9-12 April in The Hague.

Recent reads:

• Keychange Pledge Report 2023-2025

• Hot Sounds “Michelle Mae of The Make-Up”

• zensounds Vapor Talks

• Kyla’s Newsletter “The Great Entertainment: Can you govern the world like a reality TV show?”

Looking forward to: Girl Scout Cookies. Olympia-5. Daylight Savings Time.

Around Amsterdam: What do you get when you mix ‘00s hipster irony and American Apparel aesthetics with Amsterdam party culture and practical Dutch fashion sensibilities? Tourist Trap powered by Bonne Suits – a local fashion brand with its own party series and DJ entourage. Bonne Suits makes ‘gender-oblivious’ clothing inspired by durable work wear. Tourist Trap revives 00s ‘indie-sleaze’ with club nights featuring electro-clash, dance punk and blog house, its main revivalists being founder Bonne Reijn and DJ consortium Not a Fan. The Bonne Suits shop and art gallery is in the heart of Amsterdam’s touristy city centre and their latest collection is inspired by Dutch maritime history. The Tourist Trap Merch Collection features four t-shirts with one-word nods to local tourist and street cultures: (party) ESCALATOR, (high) PRIORITY, (emotional) LUGGAGE and (sexual) CRUISING.

Toekomstmuziek is a relatively new music venue in Amsterdam offering “a safe environment, place and platform for people to connect with each other”. Hoping for that connection to come through “vulnerability and openness instead of ego and competitiveness” Toekomstmuziek (“future music”) sees people and their stories as the foundation of a more sustainable independent underground music scene for everybody. LA shoegazers Mo Dotti played here last year. Songkick listings suggest Mahogany and Resplandor are on the agenda for later this year.

As always, thanks for following along. May you receive many red-foiled chocolate hearts or a CRUISING t-shirt this month.

//wendy

From the blog…

Upcoming release or show? New collab? Pizza thoughts? Cookie recipes? Lemme know.

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Tijuana Taxi blends heavy shoegaze and psych sounds to create spaced-out, bass-laden, dream noise. Based in Toronto, the trio that is Tijuana Taxi is composed of Jim Ritchie (guitar), Lucas Anderson (bass) and Ryan Caley (drums). Initially formed in 2013 by Jim and Ryan, Lucas joined in 2017 and the band released their debut EP Paracusis in 2019. Mirages is Tijuana Taxi’s recent full-length with eleven tracks that crush both heavy and light. If you liked their tune “Slip Out” which opened episode 29 of blank mood, check out “Looking at Air”. In this blank mood Q+A, we get to know the band a bit, learn about “Slip Out” and their creative process, and also discover who Uncle Vance is.

How did you choose the name Tijuana Taxi for the band?

Ryan: I hear a lot of people ask if we’re named after the Herb Alpert song but I’d actually never heard of it before we started playing shows. Long story short it was an old Toronto-based limo service that had sort of an unhinged alternative vibe to it. I’d originally only heard of it because I’d spotted their business card in a friend’s wallet and thought the plain Arial black font on a white background just looked like he had some weird code word in his wallet and it made very little sense to me so I just said I’d make it a band name one day-- so I did! We referenced that business card on the album cover of our first demo as a fun little inside joke, mostly for myself.

Is there a story behind your tune “Slip Out”?

Jim: I don’t think any of our songs are conceptualized prior to participating in their creation. Writing “Slip Out” I remember playing a funk riff with the delay on and I liked how the notes blurred together and we took it from there. I relate to it as being so comfortable procrastinating your own development that you don’t realise you’ve fallen into your own inhibitions. It’s like you want a hand-out, but it’s not gonna matter unless you find a way out yourself. Like you’re swathed in a thick blanket that’s smothering you until you Houdini your way out of the situation.

Lucas: To me it always felt a bit elusive and unfinished. There was this nagging feeling that the song was missing something that was always slightly out of reach. It was this weird mixture of knowing something’s not right but not knowing what to change. A combination of happy accidents during recording and last minute polishes finally made the song feel complete. “Slip Out” as a song evokes how I felt about it during its creation; a sense of longing, uncertainty and intangibility.

Mirages is described as the band’s ‘most vulnerable work to date’ and a ‘meditation on lost time, blurred memory and the dissolving edges of the self’. What has the reaction to that vulnerability been? Who do you think is likely to connect with the sounds of the album?

Ryan: I think it’s been thoroughly positive. We’ve always been more of just a fun-loving psychedelic jam band playing with and for friends, but as we’ve aged and matured as writers and musicians, we found a way of expressing ourselves honestly. It still stayed rooted in the joy of playing music together, while also dealing with the growth and emotional turbulence that comes from realising you aren’t just a 20-something messing around anymore. I felt we had something deeply introspective to say on this record, and the reception to that vulnerability has been far more supportive than I could’ve imagined.

What’s the story behind the album’s cover photo?

Ryan: Jim went on vacation last summer and took a bunch of photos, and originally we were planning to use this really trippy shot of some waves that I’d edited to look even more hazy and surreal. Once Jim got the film photos developed, though, the mountain photo we ended up using really resonated with us and the overall vibe of the album. It evokes a lot of nostalgia, and the film burn, at least to me, represents the degradation of memory that comes with growing older. We still ended up using the wave photo on the Side B label of the vinyl release and on our merch.

What’s different about the songs on Mirages compared to Paracusis? I see on Bandcamp that Paracusis was for someone named “Uncle Vance” - may I ask, who is Uncle Vance?

Lucas: The songs on Mirages have a more stripped down feel to them, they’re simpler in terms of recording and substance. Not to say there aren’t a lot of layers or tracks in the mix, but there are less set pieces for each song. It really feels like we’ve figured out where to place each instrument and effect to better serve the song. Less is more.

Jim: About half of these songs were written around the same time as Paracusis, I think we developed as better musicians with them over the years. So I guess the album is a continuation of what was and what’s to come. As for my uncle Vance, he was always hyping us up and I always remembered him asking me about the band and how he wanted to hear something new all the time. He passed away before we started recording Paracusis so I wanted to honour him on the record.

Ryan: It’s probably worth noting that a lot of the songs on Mirages had been played for years and recorded and re-recorded countless times. By the time we reached the final sessions with Jesse Turnbull, who produced the record, we just felt more comfortable and intentional in the studio. We knew what we wanted from the sound and how to achieve it. With Paracusis, since we’d never been in a professional studio before, there was more of a ‘kid in a candy store’ vibe where we wanted to try everything. I think only “Sonder” and “Erasure (January)” were truly new songs that we hadn’t already been playing live before Paracusis was even released

How do you work together as band members? What are the influences that each of you bring to your creative process?

Jim: Our influences are pretty all over the place but have their groundings in shoegaze, lo-fi 90s post-rock groups and stoner rock/metal. We all have different tastes that bring something new to a session, which keeps things interesting, but like I said it’s not really conceptual and it’s more like riffing on each other and breaking it down to make a track.

Ryan: I honestly love that we all have very different listening habits. There’s a ton of overlap, like Jim said, which is what brought us together in the first place, but there are also big differences that let us combine influences in ways we wouldn’t expect. I’m a huge Midwest emo guy who loves a good pop hook, Jim brings a lot of dissonance and experimentation, and Lucas is all about nasty bass tones and dark atmospherics. The end result tends to be heavy, catchy, dark, and abstract, and it just works for us.

Lucas: Generally speaking each member is given ownership of their part in the song, we’re all responsible for our own parts. That being said, I feel we do a great job of communicating ideas and feedback between one another with the goal of amplifying and propelling the song further.

How do you stay connected with your fans and attract new listeners?

Ryan: I manage all the socials. I try to be as active as possible on Twitter because it’s a fun way to keep an open and casual conversation with fans and the online music community as a whole. No one takes things overly seriously there and I really do value some of the insight people give there. As for the more serious things like gig announcements and whatnot I keep all that on Instagram. It’s actually kinda funny because we’ve sorta cultivated two different fan bases where the Twitter one is a lot of silly, fun banter while the Instagram one is a bit more serious in tone and more about informing people on what we’re up to. Different strokes for different folks.

How did your album release show for Mirages go?

Lucas: Best show we’ve ever played.

Ryan: Yup, great turnout for a show in the dead of winter, and we owe a lot to Graham Galbraith-Nolan. We brought him in to handle sound and lights, and he’s incredible at what he does. We sounded massive, and every photo I’ve seen looked amazing. We played all of Mirages front to back including the “Ostinato” interludes and everyone we talked to after the show said it was the best we’ve ever sounded live. The opening acts, Luster Dust and She Wears Black were great too, highly recommend checking those guys out. There was a song in the Luster Dust set that got me choked up a bit with their Starflyer-esque brand of beautiful noise.

What else do you have planned for 2026?

Ryan: We took almost two years off from gigs while we completed Mirages so we’re just itching to get back into the swing of things. We don’t have anything locked in at the moment, but we’re hoping to break into the local festival circuit this year and put together a Canadian tour in the fall, with possibly something bigger afterward if time and money allow.

Anything else you’d like to mention?

Ryan: This entire release cycle has been funded by us and us only, we’ve got vinyl on the way so if you want to support us directly, check out our Bandcamp, buy a record or just tell your friends about us, every bit helps us keep the dream alive. Thanks for having us!

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You were onto somethin’, Uncle Vance.

Follow Tijuana Taxi on Instagram for news and on Twitter to let them know you can’t understand their lyrics. 😂 Keep the DIY spirit alive by pre-ordering their album Mirages on Bandcamp. And after all that, give the Herb Alpert classic a spin.

//wendy

Hitting somewhere between early and late Low, Chainlacing’s “Voiceless” blends slow and sparse with gritty and peaked-out electronics to create their very own “dungeon dream pop”. The songwriting duo, based in Boston and New Hampshire, is Lauren Crosser and Rick Martel. “Voiceless” was included in episode 29 of blank mood.

“Personally I’m sort of surprised people are into this song,” Lauren began. “The song was one of our first we ever wrote together and it’s essentially an experiment built around an acoustic idea I initially had a couple of years ago.”

“Voiceless” starts with acoustic guitar before a piercing, repetitive synth out of a horror movie hits with industrial-sounding beats. The horror beat drops suddenly, opening up to a safe vista, sprawling with relief.

“In terms of the lyrical content it’s probably one of the most deeply personal I’ve written, and in fact I tend to avoid ever listening to it because of that,” Lauren explained, “but what I like is that it also showcases the strange impulses both Rick and I have that draw on a lot of ethereal and gothic influences we have, but when the song is done it ultimately comes out sounding unlike any of those.”

Rick and Lauren describe their songwriting as an exercise where one sketches an idea and the other develops it further in the studio.

“Though most of our songs are sort of that kind of experiment in the sense that they often start with some guitar idea I have and take unexpected shapes with Rick’s studio tricks, that song was probably the -most- like that of any of the ones we’ve done,” said Lauren.

“Voiceless” appears on Chainlacing’s EP Attersee. Released in March 2025, Attersee is the result of Lauren and Rick’s early songwriting experiments, which she characterised as “intense”. It also sounds like it was an opportune moment for them.

“Pretty quickly, we had a shared musical aesthetic and a sound we wanted to cultivate; and around that time, a friend who was starting an indie tape label, Interluxe Distribution in the Boston area, asked if we would like to do a physical release on the label. So we put together an EP that we were quickly able to develop a concept for, and before we even released that, we were unexpectedly asked by the Rome-based record label These Hands Melt to release a full-length on vinyl.”

The two had never done these things together, but were determined to take it all on.

“Meanwhile, we were just in the process of putting together a live band, which we had no plans to do initially, but ultimately decided to try when we were asked to play shows with friends of ours,” said Lauren, “and that’s been its own complex (and joyous) struggle.”

Rick sees everything about these processes as related to how Chainlacing has developed as a songwriting duo, recording project and live band.

“All of these processes bleed together. Trying to translate our studio tricks into a live sound, as well as guard the intimacy of our songwriting as a duo, and bringing our bandmates, all of whom are highly driven and talented, into the process as well.”

Read more about Chainlacing and subscribe to their newsletter at their website or check out their music and merch on Bandcamp - there is “Voiceless” perfume oil!

🖤

Also, you’ll discover at the Chainlacing website that the two play in other Boston-area bands: Lauren (drums) with Slow Quit and Rick (guitar) with Tysk Tysk Tysk.

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You’ll find “MOD1” on the recent connected #3 compilation issued by i u we records, a label founded by Panic Girl and focussed on “the beauty of female diversity in electronic music.”

connected #3 features 9 electronic tracks ranging from spooky, if not terrifying dronescapes like “A Suit of Leaves” by Tangent Universes and “Dark Mountains, Red Dust” by Never Sol. You’ll also find mesmerizing space journeys like “Strahlensammler” by Silver Galaxy and tight techno beats by lil.lili and Tunegirl.

connected #3 is available as a digital album and limited edition cassette on Bandcamp. Also check out the connected #2 and connected #1 compilations as well. Head straight for Julia Bondar’s “Dramatique Waters” - it’s a womper!

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Whitelands’ Sunlight Echoes is a sophisticated daydream rejecting soft focus in favour of lucidity. Shining across Sunlight Echoes are the vocals of lead Etienne Quartey-Papafio, bringing murky and uneasy emotions to light. As if to answer the question found at the depths of their debut album, Night-bound Eyes Are Blind To The Day, Whitelands expresses with intelligent clarity on Sunlight Echoes exactly how it feels.

The four singles of Sunlight Echoes have for me become go-to tunes for a good kick in the mood, restoring faith or injecting a dose of positive energy on a low day - you know, in the way that only some damn fine power pop wompers can! Delightful details are found in these singles: the drum break at :54 in “Glance” or the moment where the word “forever” soars, bringing “Songbird (Forever)” into its final refrain. The band created video accompaniments to each of the four singles and the rest of the album has delivered yet more precious details in songwriting and production.

There is comforting familiarity to be found in the songs of Sunlight Echoes. “Sparklebaby”, which includes vocals from Emma Anderson, brings to mind the guitars at the start of Ride’s “Today” together with a “Caroline, No”-ness of the Beach Boys. “Mirrors” sets a dark mood that could easily fit on Songs Of A Lost World before hitting harder with heavy metal drums. And, wait… has anyone ‘til now pointed, with all fingers, what an amazing drummer Jagun is?! Michael and Etienne’s guitars take on more force deeper into the album, with “Dark Horse” and “Mirrors” sounding like more aggressive confrontations with the self, conveying jagged shards of emotions around heartbreak, resentment and desperation. Bassist Vanessa’s thick and bouncing bass lends “Golden Daze” and the end of Sunlight Echoes an undertow of joy and resolve…while also reminding me of Fugazi’s “Waiting Room”.

I share comparisons to other artists and songs realising the risk of annoying people, but as an older listener, I often find it difficult to connect with new music and younger artists. I appreciate being able to connect with something new via a bit of familiarity. Whitelands make it sound so easy to forge a new, clear and unique mark in shoegaze while also drawing inspiration from various places and people.

Both LP and CD versions of Sunlight Echoes are gorgeously done, with lyrics sheet and photo of the band… and oooh, the LP cover is embossed with the band’s name.

Can’t wait to see Whitelands perform at Grauzone Festival (7 February, The Hague) and hear where they go to next with their sound and songwriting.

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• Tijuana Taxi “Slip Out”

• Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore “Stardust”

• Jim Jarmusch & Anika “Paris Bleu”

• Chainlacing “Voiceless”

• Emily A. Sprague “Tokyo 2”

• Jo Johnson & Hilary Robinson “Antenna Gain” more about the EP here.

• Drexler “Prague”

• Nadia Struiwigh “MOD1”

listen to this and other episodes of blank mood on Mixcloud.

A Canadian three-piece that started out in Ottawa in 1997, Southpacific defies categorisation with moodscapes that seem to call on space rock, shoegaze and psych-tinged sounds. Band members Joachim Toelke (guitar), Phil Stewart-Bowes (bass) and Graeme Fleming (drums) explain how they’ve always brought diverse influences together in the same room to develop music that feels right - “technical sparks” and emotions, fusing into a thicker and heavier layer of sound and mood. We touch on all three of their releases, including the 25th anniversary reissue of their album Constance. They also recommend a few killer Canadian bands to check out. But first, where did their name come from?

How did the band get its name?

Joachim: We didn’t know what to call ourselves - Southpacific was kind of inspired by escapism from the long, dark, cold Canadian winters in Ottawa where it can feel very bleak. The idea that there are other places out there with a vast, different climate and reality, was appealing. I think the idea came from the unreleased Verve track on a mix-tape I had- at the time they had broken up as far as I knew so it was a nice obscure reference…except that they reformed and became super famous!

Radar Road EP (2023)

Given most of the band’s work has been instrumental, how did you end up with two songs with vocals on the Radar Road EP?

Graeme: We had one track with vocals before—Built to Last—and when it landed on the Constance track list, we treated the voice like another instrument, just another texture in the mix. We’ve never had a strict playbook for our sound; it’s all about what feels right. So when the mixes for “Breakdown” and “For Years” started coming together, vocals just fit the mood. It wasn’t planned—it was organic, like the songs called for it.

I’m curious about the image on the cover - where is the tower located in real life? Or is it?

Graeme: It’s actually inspired by a real radar tower near the ski chalet where we recorded our first album, 33. There’s a road that winds up to the top of the ski hill where the tower sits—we drove up there, and that whole experience stuck with us. It felt iconic, so it became the album title and later the cover image.

“For Years” was included on an early episode of blank mood - is there a story about this song?

Graeme: It’s about obsession. Searching for validation, self-worth or reinvention, and whether the effort was worth it in the end.

Did the EP bring you new fans from the current “shoegaze revival”?

Joachim: We’ve always been a bit obscure and under the radar, so our fans seem to come from everywhere. It’s nice that there’s been a shoegaze revival because a lot of music from that early 90s era was overlooked, and now people are taking some of those ideas and expanding on them or pushing them into different directions, let alone totally new ones.

Constance (1999)

You released a 25th anniversary LP edition of the album Constance this year. What’s something different as far as design of the LP vs the original CD?

Phil: It was important for us to mark the anniversary of the album, and people had been asking us about a vinyl pressing for years, so it made sense to finally make it happen. One issue was that we don’t have the assets for the original CD design, so we had to recreate the cover art for vinyl - and what Jake [ed. designer Jacob Bryce] did with the updated cover is amazing. As far as the tracklisting goes, the album was not sequenced with vinyl in mind, but it just so happened that the original CD tracklist fit comfortably across 4 sides. It just all worked out and came together.

How has the re-release been received? Have you met old and new fans?

Phil: People that have bought the vinyl so far seem to like it. Noah Mintz did a great job with the remastered audio, we’re happy with how the album sounds on vinyl. We met a lot of amazing people over the shows we played in the fall - some older fans that saw us play during our first run, and many newer fans that thought they might never get the chance to see us play. It’s been gratifying to play our music live for people again.

Sun13 described Southpacific and Constance as “soundscapes for the aloof”. I would say your songs tend to be beautifully moody. What do you draw on for your creative process? Natural surroundings? Emotions? Experiences? Something else?

Graeme: We see our music as being layered with different perspectives. A song idea might start from a technical spark or an emotional thought from one member, but it rarely stays in that original form. It gets twisted, reinterpreted, and reshaped as everyone adds their own context. That’s why our tracks often feel like overlays of different levels—emotions, experiences, and surroundings all colliding into something bigger than the sum of its parts. I can see where our music satisfies the introspective listener.

What the story behind the song “E10 @182”?

Graeme: It’s the preset and tempo of the drum machine that you hear throughout the song. Sorry, not very exciting.

I think I’ve read that you have not promoted the Radar Road EP and Constance re-release heavily. Was that intentional or related to lack of time or interest in promotional activities? Has that been a liberating choice? I talk to a lot of bands who struggle with the promotions side of things, so in a way it seems like it could be a relief to focus on the music. Any thoughts on what is involved with promotions now vs in the past?

Phil: As far as promo goes, I think we did what we could in each case. With the Radar Road EP, it was originally supposed to come out in 2020 when we released “Depths” as a single, but then the COVID pandemic hit just after. We had potential plans to release the five tracks as singles and also to play some shows that same year, but our plans were derailed. When we finally got to release it as an EP in 2023, I think by that point the goal was just to get the music out and let people hear it.

For the Constance re-release, we had more time to plan the vinyl pressing and to rehearse for live shows. We are a completely independent band at this point, so all promo effort comes down to us.

33 EP (1998)

Your first EP, 33, came out in 1998, about the time the space rock scenes around Michigan and Philadelphia became popular with college radio in the US. Did you see yourselves connected to any of those bands or scenes?

Phil: I don’t think we’ve ever connected strongly with any particular scene. We each have distinctive taste in music, so at the time of 33 and Constance, we were each listening to different music that informed and influenced our individual playing styles, and then how we meshed together in the band. We were never trying to emulate anyone nor sound like any other band per se.

I love the bass-forward lure of some of the songs on 33, a bit melancholy but with space to think as well as feel. If this would have crossed my path back then, I would have fallen in love with it. Was there anything special about that time that went into these songs that you couldn’t replicate today?

Phil: I think the structure and sound of some of the songs on 33 and Constance was just the result of the three of us playing together in a room, with many of the songs emerging organically. With the emphasis on the texture of Joachim’s and Graeme’s guitars, it leaves room in the songs for the bass to stand out as a little more of a thematic or even melodic focus. I’ve always liked a bassline that could get stuck in your head, that pulls the listener in to the song.

Aside from the general psych/space rock sound of the time, I hear other things in these songs. “Interconnect” and “Life Illusion” makes me think of early Interpol and “Reverbium” reminds me of Neil Young’s “Cortez the Killer”… have you heard other associations that have made you laugh (or cry)? What music did you all grow up with?

Phil: That’s an interesting comparison. I like that different people might hear other similarities between our music and more obscure or maybe unlikely reference points. I’ve been a music fan all my life - I got KISS Destroyer when I was 7 years old, then I was into bands like The Smiths, The Cure, The Fixx, Simple Minds, R.E.M. and others in the 80’s, then of course shoegaze and American indie in the late ‘80’s/early ‘90’s. It’s just continued from there.

Joachim: The diversity of music in the small town where I grew up was limited. I moved to Lyon, France when I moved away from home, and recorded a bunch of mixed cassettes of CFNY radio from Toronto the weekend I left (people said you could avoid homesickness while living overseas by listening to familiar things like radio from back home). Those mix tapes were fantastic. In Lyon, there was a radio show on France Inter called “Stop 50” (or maybe “Passez les bornes, y’a plus de limites”?) which played alternative British music late at night- Slowdive, Stone Roses, House of Love, Manic Street Preachers, etc. I taped a lot of it, but missed or misunderstood the band names so it became a hunt and obsession at record shops for the next years to figure out who the artists were on my mix tapes and what the songs were called.

It’s nice to hear some of our stuff reminds you of Interpol and Neil Young- that’s a compliment! I don’t think they are influences though.

Music moves so fast now compared to the past! How did you connect with other bands or discover music outside of your local area in the late 90s?

Phil: For me in high school it came down to what my friends were listening to, what was being playing on the local rock radio station, and also what videos were getting airtime on MuchMusic (the Canadian answer to MTV) at the time. Later on, in my late teens and in to my 20’s, I bought the NME (New Musical Express) weekly UK music paper - much of my taste during those years was directly influenced by what I was reading about.

Joachim: With Southpacific we tended to connect with other bands as friends we met at shows and at rehearsal studios. One of the best parts of being in a band is the interesting people you get to meet! People were always sharing CDs or recommending bands and artists to check out.

Others have already asked, but do you think 33 will see a re-issue?

Phil: It’s definitely on our to-do list, a 33 vinyl re-issue along with Radar Road on vinyl as well. I think it’s only a matter of time…

What are you all listening to at the moment? Do you have favourite albums or artists of 2025?

Phil: Recently I’ve been listening to mostly re-issues, often electronic or ambient music. The Polygon Window re-issue is great, as are the recent Seefeel re-issues from Too Pure. The new albums from The Orb, Cut Copy and Oneohtrix Point Never are also really good.

The best newer band I’ve listened to recently is The Fires of Cheektowaga. They played with us in Toronto – they are amazing live, and their new single “Slowburn” is really great. Everyone should give them a listen!

Joachim: I agree with Phil- we also played with Seaver from Montreal and they are great. We played with a load of inspiring bands on our recent shows who were fantastic.

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Star Sailors: A Shoegaze & Dreampop Compilation is a collection of twenty-three indie tunes, delivering all the glimmers, tight squalls of noise, and moody haze you’d expect from a shoegaze comp. The project of Pete Pom (Dramamine), Star Sailors is now in its fourth iteration and helps to connect new bands with new listeners.

“The Star Sailors compilation is one of my favorite projects,” said Pete. “It gives me the chance to connect with fellow artists and help amplify their work. I’m constantly inspired by how many incredible people are out there making music.”

A rather basic note on my part, but I’ll say it anyway: there’s something for everyone who appreciates a range of shoegaze sounds and styles; Star Sailors vol. 4 is expansive rather than narrow. I mean, if you like a tighter range of sounds, this comp might not be for you. Some tracks blur traditional sound barriers of the genre(s) with more synthetic sounds and beats: “Wasted on a Wish” (Hyps) and “Transient” (Chainlacing) while others cross over into 90s indie rock territory: “Sink” (Nothingland) and “Afterwards” (Wybercron)… or summon a bit of dark-tinged pop: “A Night In Your Dreams” (Memories Fading). “Brighter Shades of Gold” (The Virginia Planes) reminds of Stars and Bloom Effect’s “Suspendo” makes me think of the frantic joy of Unrest guitars.

“The Star Sailors compilation put our music straight into the ears of shoegaze superfans,” commented Bloom Effect’s Jula Lafit, “just look at their Bandcamp fandom.”

Star Sailors: A Shoegaze & Dreampop Compilation is available on Bandcamp as a name-your-price digital album. Money paid goes to the artists or is reinvested in the Star Sailors project. Curator Pete suggests exploring individual contributors’ pages to purchase physical releases and merch directly from artists. If you swore yourself off Spotify this year, want to support artists more directly or made a resolution to actively discover new bands, Star Sailors vol. 4 is an excellent and affordable collection to dig into. “Reach out and tell them you like their music,” says Pete.

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Bloom Effect is composed of Jula Lafit (vocals/bass), Craig Weighman (guitar), and Tom Rappa (drums). While the trio lives in Canada, Jula hails from Argentina and both Craig and Tom are from the UK. According to Jula, each of the members bring their own creative spark to Bloom Effect, whether it be in composing, designing or photographing. “You’ll usually find us wandering Vancouver’s music scene,” she notes, “catching shows, and strutting big pants with even bigger personalities.”

Where did the band name come from?

Our name comes from the ‘Bloom’ pedal and the photographic ‘bloom effect’, a glow that mirrors the waves of sound our music creates.

How do you connect with international (shoegaze) fans?

Instagram is where it’s at for us. We’ve tried other ways to connect, let our fans tell us, it’s by far the best.

What’s the story behind your song “suspendo”?

The spiritual predecessor. “Suspendo” was the first track written by the band to truly sound like Bloom Effect. A cosmic pop song that felt fully formed the moment it emerged, as if the universe transmitted it and the band just happened to be listening.

“Suspendo” can be found on the Star Sailors shoegaze and dream pop compilation as well as your EP Oscilón… why did you choose this song for the Star Sailors compilation?

“Suspendo” barely made it onto our Oscilón EP, released September 19, 2025. It was the first track we ever wrote that really sounded like us, and we decided at the last minute to include it. We sent it to the Star Sailors compilation because, at its core, it’s pure shoegaze—wall-to-wall, no compromises.

You’re on the bill for the 2026 Automatic Noise Festival here in Amsterdam - how did you get connected with ANF? Are you including other shows in Europe then? What are you looking forward to in relation to the festival?

We sent our demo to Automatic Records, and it all just clicked from there. Antonio has been a huge supporter of us. We’re also playing Düsseldorf and Leuven, and honestly, we’re just looking forward to diving into a true shoegaze scene and catching all the shows: Attic Ocean, Mumrunner, Maquillage, Healees… everything!

What else does the band have planned for 2026?

In 2026, we’re recording an album, hitting the UK, and taking on Canadian festivals.

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In 2025, blank mood published four episodes that included a total of 30 songs. On the blog, close to 40 artists or works were featured. The Copperplate interview has been unpublished, but judging by the traffic it generated, I should auction it off on eBay. But really, “Lauren”, if you’re out there and you want to talk about AI music and all this hoo-haa, you’ve got my email.

Thank you to anyone who reads or listens to blank mood. I appreciate that some of you take the time to let me know you’ve discovered or read something you like. The people that I would like to thank this year are listed below, mostly in the order that we exchanged this year. If I don’t know your name, I hope my description of what you did suffices. Ya’ll are dolls.

Also, my list of favourite releases this year, in absolutely no order or ranking at all, except that I start off with remixes because 2025 seemed a good year for them.

Wishing you shoegaze glimmers for the rest of the dark days this year - make sure to turn it up to 11 in 2026.

Wendy

2025 blank mood favourites

Remixes

• “Alone” by The Cure (Ex-Easter Island Head Remix)

• “Ghosts” by Cloud Studies (Auburn Lull Remix)

• “Holy Water” by Three Quarter Skies feat. Rachael Swinton (Graham Sutton Remix)

• “The Moth” by deary (Pump Remix)

Shoegaze and indie pop albums

• Another One Making Clouds by Everything Else

• Gemini by Slow Salvation

• Luster by Maria Somerville

• Bowerbirds and Blue Things by Jetstream Pony

Concept album

• In the Depths by Silver Y

Mini albums

• Taurus by Peel Dream Magazine

• Year Without Spring by Somesurprises

Unexpected collab

• Parallel by All Seeing Dolls (Dot Allison and Anton Newcombe)

Demos with wicked wah wah

• White House Demos by Chapterhouse

Ambient electronica

• Cloud Time by Emily A. Sprague

• Animistic Resonance by Leslie Garcia

• The Glass Curtain by Billow Observatory

Various / compilations

• Gazed and Bemused: Hazy Sounds from the Meanjin Underground by 4000 Records

• Paradigms II by PFR Records

Late discovery

• breathless, shorn by naemi

Music video

• “Glance” by Whitelands, video by Cameron Perry

Album opener and closer

• “Love Comes” and “Love Goes” on Haunted Woodland Volume 5 by Karen Vogt feat. Hamish Mackintosh

• “Mission Creep” and “Motor Boats” on Swallow by Steve Queralt

Re-issue

• Antarctica: Bliss Out Vol. 2 by Windy & Carl

Looking forward to in 2026

• Whitelands Sunlight Echoes

• Mary Lattimore and Julianna Barwick Tragic Magic

• This Can’t Be Today: A Trip Through the US Psychedelic Underground 1977-1988

• ALCATUNE Re-entry Guidance for a Crash

Thank you

• Strange Fruit

• Benedict Pardede at Gentle Tuesday Recordings

• Southpacific

• All the people who stopped using Spotify

• White Flowers

• Glisten Trick

• Julien Demoulin and Frederic Dufourd

• The dude at the Shoegaze Alldayer who asked me to spell Mondaze

• Andrea Parra - Hazelene

• Nori de Groot at Paradiso

• Annie Bingley - Ghost Mutt

• John Russell at 4000 Records

• All the people who wore earbuds or headphones in public

• Keychange

• Andy Power - So, Reverie

• All the curious listeners at my shoegaze presentation

• Marisa da Anunciação

• David Lopes - ALCATUNE

• Pete Pom - Dramamine

• HOLY SPRINGS

• Nicole Davis

• All the tall people who cleared a view for me at a concert

• Jim Rao - Orange Cake Mix

• Thelma’s Dream

• Stefan Baranowski at Noon Records

• The Burning Paris

• Karen Vogt

• Lauren Green and Marissa Macias - Tan Cologne

• All the people who used my name when sending me their music

• TJ Perrin at PFR Records

• Gorden Spangardt - Interlaken Tapes

• Travis Trevisan and Christina Hernandez - Slow Salvation

• My parents for accepting various CDs and LPs in the US

• Caroline Bailey - Eloise Chamber

• Steve Queralt

• Nat Cramp at Sonic Cathedral

• Slow Country

• Jason Kolb and Jonas Munk - Billow Observatory

• Marc Wheeler - A Deeper Heaven

• Annika Henderson - Anika

• The person who ordered a blank mood t-shirt

• Lauren Andino - Tremours

• Laura Caviglia - Silver Y

• James Parrish at Prescription PR

• bdrmm

• Anyone who supported college or community radio

• Gene Teysse - DJ Dragnet

• Empereur

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