This past decade has unexpectedly become the locus of the nascent dreampop and shoegaze sound, with not only new albums, and tours, but improbable bands reforming and reactivating after decades of silence. Second only to the decade of the genre's origin, it's a great time for listeners avid for more of shoegaze inward-looking strain of melodicism and blissed-out fuzz. The Guardian's "Shoegaze: The Genre that Could Not be Killed", and New York Times' "Shoegaze, the Sound of Protest Shrouded in Guitar Fuzz, Returns", best encapsulate this contemporary resurgence. For those just now entering the neon torrent for the first time, you'd not go far wrong beginning with The Guardian's "Shoegaze: A Beginner's Guide", and the near-comprehensive book and compilation the Cherry Red label have assembled, "Still in a Dream: The Story of Shoegaze 1988-1995". The consensus is that shoegaze and the concurrent sounds of dreampop were born of two bands. These are considered to be Robin Guthrie and Elizabeth Fraser's Cocteau Twins in the early 1980s, and A.R. Kane, the British duo whom The Guardian credits as having "Invented Shoegaze without Really Trying". Representative of their influence, decades later both can be seen ranking highly on Pitchfork's "The 30 Best Dreampop Albums of All Time". Not limited to the post-punk and indie rock era of its genesis, both shoegaze, and its dreampop offshoot, are going through a renaissance this decade with new bands stepping into the forum. The telltale distortion-soaked melodies, and submerged vocals can be heard in the music of 21st century bands originating from destinations as far flung as Russia and New Zealand.
At the head of this renaissance, many of the genre's most influential and formative acts have returned from extended hiatus, not only touring, but with new and relevant material. Most improbable of them all, it was announced in 2014 that Slowdive would be performing a one-off at the Primavera Sound Festival. Finding an enthusiasm for playing and writing together again, the show suggested the very real possibility of a reformation. And following in rapid succession, "Slowdive Announce Reunion, and North American Tour". Two years later, all members of the band reassembled for the first new recordings in 22 years on the magisterial and surprising "Slowdive", for Bloomington Indiana label, Dead Oceans. This album singularly launching "The Unlikely Renaissance of Slowdive". From which they have ascended to heights of popularity never previously seen by the band, riding the wave of the "Jewel-like, Spacious Return" of their sound. The development of this new work was detailed for Stereogum by guitarist, Rachel Goswell, the self-described "The Only Goth in the Village". After five years, they return to this process for "Everything is Alive", which Neil Halstead speaks with NPR on the subject of this second new album of "Exquisite Songs from the Comeback Kids of Shoegaze", which arrives this month in a follow-up United States Tour.
Other unlikely returns have been seen in Robert Hampson touring with LOOP, the one-time-only North American visit from Lush's brand of 4AD dreampop, as well as some of the first new material heard in decades from The Jesus and Mary Chain, and Ride. On the other side of the globe from the sound's UK origins, a new generation of shoegaze is currently exploding across the south pacific, detailed in The Guardian's "'A Language We Use to Say Sentimental Things': How Shoegaze Took Over Asia". Another notable recent advancement of the sound has come from the Irish countryside of Galaway County. Maria Sommerville's second album seems hewn from the rugged landscape of the village of Connemara where it was recorded amidst the expanses of flowering heath, and stone-littered mountains dotted with ruins of castles and nunneries, small fishing villages, and craggy ranges. The setting finds itself mirrored in her interview with New Noise, "Maria Somerville on ‘Luster’ and Nature", as the lumbering rhythms and windswept distortion that blows through the recording, expressed in stylistic references as varied as contemporary neo-folk and subtle nods to 1990s trip hop. Released by the hugely influential 4AD label, "Luster" has almost instantly become recognized as "A Vivid and Vital Entry in the Shoegaze Revival", and its reception has resulted in her first North American tour with a date at Seattle's Sunset Tavern.
