Relapse
Since the recently reunited Slowdive released their last album I could probably count the number of good shoegaze albums on two hands. Not a great stat considering it’s been 20 years. So thank goodness then for Philadelphia’s Nothing.
Formed by ex-Horror Show frontman Domenic Palermo Nothing is a considerable leap forward from his days playing hardcore on Deathwish Inc. Being signed to Relapse assures some kind of heaviness and Nothing certainly love it loud but the label will confuse some — this band is a straight-up shoegaze throwback and arguably the best one yet.
Their debut album Guilty of Everything is superbly crafted — carefully constructing shoegaze like a Frankenstein monster. In creating their music Nothing unabashedly borrow from their influences but that’s part of the fun. They write simple song structures with big juicy choruses and then pile on layers of crunching distortion and reverb. It’s hardly original but most of the best original shoegazers couldn’t beat this.
Palermo’s a pretty disheartened dude something that comes out in the “fuck ’em all” lyrics but Guilty of Everything encapsulates everything that was great about shoegaze. It plays like an archetype for the subgenre and a great contemporary starting point for those just learning of Slowdive.
