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Adam Cresswell (vocals, bass), Nat Guest (drums), Martin J Langthorne (guitars) and Adrian Taylor (guitars) make up UK dark shoegaze band Cloud Studies, who came into being back in 2024. They have released their second single “Cloud Cartography,” out on Happy Robot Records.

PHOTO BY ALISON AHERN

The world just comes alive between those guitars and keyboard, full of sonic joy. Having a proper drummer creates a wonderful symmetry when it comes to shoegaze bands. The sonorous vocals are hazy and dreamlike, set on an equal level as the instruments. All the while there are tiny squeals of feedback intermittently piercing the track.

“Cloud Cartography” was written after visiting Derryveagh Mountains in Ireland, and turned into a story about two humans trying to map clouds, which is kind of a metaphor for life. No matter how hard we try, there is no confirmed map or even permanence, for just like clouds, we are in perpetual motion, blown on the whim of the wind. My favourite shoegaze band of all time is Ride and this track would easily sit in the earlier phase of Gardner and Co. Cloud Studies’ “Cloud Cartography” is sonically pleasing between the guitar feedback and jangle, with vocals taking you on a vapour trail adventure.

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Cloud Studies | Happy Robots Records

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Things I know. The band The Dark Wave formed in 2019, and is a new wave/post-punk from the Netherlands. Jelmer Luimstra of April Afternoon, joined them in 2023, and now they have released their second single “One of These Days.”

There are chiming guitars and the synths have a breezy, light feel. The hint that this track is not all sunshine and lollipops, is the heavy bass below everything, and of course, those lyrics about being trapped. Smooth as silk vocals are the cheery on top.

If you enjoy eating sea food, you might feel rather remorseful after watching the music video, though the lyrics are using the lobster as a metaphor for once being free and if you aren’t aware of what is happening around you, that freedom can disappear. Kind of pertinent for the current political climate. “One of These Days” is the more modern equivalent of The Manic Street Preacher’s “If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next,” and The Dark Wave are poking you to open your eyes with good indie pop.

One of These Days | The Dark Wave

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As I write, California is on fire, and Vince Grant, the man behind LA project The Sea At Midnight, sent me an email about his new single, “Our Beautiful Destruction,” and all proceeds from the song will be donated to victims.

Was this track written before the fires? The vocals wrench at my insides with the lyrics about the world being consumed in flames and Grant’s voice is truly gorgeous and swept up in the whirling guitar and synths in the chorus.

‘burning so brightly
against the night sky
the ashes are raining
sparks and ashes
are all that’s left
the smoke hides the pain
of all that remains
of our brilliant destruction
our brilliant destruction
smoke hides the pain‘

My heart aches listening to this track. I live in a country where every Summer is a terrifying wait to see if bush fires will take hold…. the last huge infernos being in 2019. Lost lives, lost property, watching both wildlife and domestic animals perishing. “Our Brilliant Destruction” sadly seems to encapsulate this situation perfectly. If it were released without the LA fires, it would be considered a evocative song, but currently it means everything. It is name your price on The Sea At Midnight’s Bandcamp, so I encouraged you to give a little to help in “Our Brilliant Destruction.”

Our Brilliant Destruction | The Sea At Midnight

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Los Angeles post-punk band The Sea At Midnight are extremely prolific, with the latest single “Burning” dropping in November. This a cover originally written by V. Grant and Marco Cattani of Chemical Waves, who released the track on the album II (Emotional Violence) and also featured The Sea At Midnight.

The track evolves from a low rumble, into languid drum beat and drifting electronics. The vocals are beautifully clean and soulful, accompanied by the jangly guitar. There is a wealth emotion pouring forth and “Burning” elicits a visceral response in the form of tingles down your spine. The original form of this song was a far more electronic affair, and The Sea At Midnight has given it a darker ethereal feel that wells and bubbles with a longing that grabs you by the heart strings.

Burning | The Sea At Midnight

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October is always a good month for dark alternative releases and Berlin based VV & The Void dropped the single “DEVOTION (Release the Bats – Halloween Remix).” Valentina Veil is the VV (vocals, guitar, synths, programming) with Brandon Robert (bass guitar) and Phillip Haut (drums) making up VV & The Void.

Ringing, twisting and echoing envelops your senses between the dreamy guitars, billowing synths and VV’s romantically clandestine vocals. The bass deep and drone like, holds the ethereal rest of the track from floating away as it gradually becomes a wall of melodic noise.

The band is originally is from Melbourne, and any Australian goth type will tell you that “Release the Bats” brings forth the vision of Nick Cave and The Birthday Party and even though “DEVOTION” is not as punk, there is a rawness to them, like an open wound that never heals and they are wallowing in that experience. You can enjoy drowning in the experimental shoegaze of VV & The Void with “DEVOTION (Release The Bats – Halloween Remix).”

DEVOTION (Release The Bats – Halloween Remix) | VV & The Void

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“Never Sever” is the new single from Norway’s Mayflower Madame, from the album Insight, which will be released on November the 1st on the label Night Cult Records.

There is a haunted tone to the beginning of “Never Sever,” however this track kicks off with the guitars powering up their shoegaze jangle. The vocals call out a regret of walking from a relationship, acknowledging that you can never go back after years. The electronics are the unsung hero here filling those swelling chorus.

There is a cool groove about this track, and the way it flows and builds between the guitars and vocals, very much reminds me of The Mission (UK). You can feel the ache of loss, however, the crashing drums combined with the bigger sound, leads you to believe that there is also acceptance of what is. Wallow in the beautiful gothic melancholy that is Mayflower Madame’s “Never Sever.”

Never Sever (single) | Mayflower Madame (bandcamp.com)

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Time for some dark shoegaze from Wrocław, Poland in the form of haunting dale. This band has been around for about five years, but they have now released their debut single “time flies.”

A hail drums, followed by guitars, assault your ears, those guitars reverbing and clamouring, trying to swallow the echoing vocals. It rolls along before slowing right down, a mire of syrupy noise, then striking one last discordant push.

“time flies” blasts the cobwebs out of your ears, in the nicest possible way. The vocals just blend into the murky wall of shoegazed pandemonium and I really like the discord versus melody. A worthy debut for haunting dale.

time flies | haunting dale (bandcamp.com)

https://linktr.ee/hauntingdale

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Chris and Dexy Valentine are California based Magic Wands, a duo dealing in dreamy and shadowy shoegaze. Their latest single “Hide” has been released on Metropolis Records.

Gosh, this is a throwback to the 90s with the glorious dark shoegaze of acts like Lush and Curve, both vocally and with those swirling, shimmering guitars. You also get an In The Dark Mix where you can keep enjoying the reverbing dreaminess.

Fans of Twin Tribes and She Past Away should definitely check out Magic Wands if they haven’t already. The dark heavy tones are both dramatic and almost otherworldly, when awash with the decadently honeyed vocals in “Hide,” which is a smidge under three minutes and it will entrance you completely. All of this is good…. very, very good..

Hide | Magic Wands (bandcamp.com)

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http://www.magicwandsband.com/

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Norway’s Mayflower Madame is back with a new single called “Paint It All in Blue.” This is the second single off the yet to be released new album, Insight, out on the Night Cult Records label.

Photo by Astrid Serck

Looking at the cover, there is a hand with a wedding ring and the lyrics most definitely allude to a relationship where someone has given everything to another and it hasn’t been a healthy partnership. Their signature dark and heavy bass is present with the flowing dreamgaze guitars. The vocals reverberate sublimely as we are drawn into the song.

It is interesting that hands seem to feature so prominently visually for Mayflower Madame and it makes me wonder if it is about the act of holding onto a person or an ideal and the pleasure or pain that this can cause. “Paint It All in Blue” is blissful post-punk, holding you in a sea of forlorn and of course this is a beautiful thing.

Paint It All in Blue (single) | Mayflower Madame (bandcamp.com)

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Some of my favourite bands are based in the ephemeral shoegaze sound, and I am going to thrust before you Talking to Shadows, a four piece from Baltimore, who Onyx last reviewed when they released the single “Soma.” Band members, Cat, Ron, Greg and Alex, dropped the single “Valentina” on the 26th of June.

If you haven’t had a chance to listen to Cat’s singing, then you are missing out. Smooth and evocative, that only enhances the dreamlike quality, swirling around your ears along with the guitars. There is that wall of guitar noise that lifts you up and takes you away….all of it wrenching a little at your heart.

It would be a shame to try and dissect the lyrics, which have both a visceral pain and at the same time utterly poetic, meaning you should just sit back and just lose yourself in the dark depths of that which is “Valentina.” Cat and the lads are influenced by possibly the most wonderful dreamy guitar group ever in Cocteau Twins and it shows. No, they aren’t Liz Fraser and Co., but then I would be disappointed if they were a carbon copy, and this is Talking to Shadows making their own beautiful music.

Valentina | Talking to Shadows (bandcamp.com)

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