What is shoegaze music?

Shoegaze is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged in the late 1980s in the United Kingdom. It's characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, swirling distortion, feedback, and overwhelming volume.

Key characteristics of shoegaze include:

• Distortion and Effects: Heavy use of guitar effects like fuzz, delay, reverb, flanger, and chorus to create a dense, layered sound.
• Ethereal Vocals: Vocals are often delivered in a dreamy, whispery style, and sometimes heavily processed or buried in the mix, prioritizing texture over lyrical clarity.
• Focus on Texture and Atmosphere: Shoegaze emphasizes the sonic texture and atmosphere over traditional song structures and hooks. It's about creating an immersive, almost psychedelic soundscape.
• Static Stage Presence: Bands were often noted for their introspective and static stage presence, spending much of their time looking down at their effects pedals ("gazing at their shoes"). This led to the name "shoegaze".
• Influences: Shoegaze drew influence from bands like The%20Jesus%20and%20Mary%20Chain, Cocteau%20Twins, and My%20Bloody%20Valentine.
• Notable Bands: Key shoegaze bands include My%20Bloody%20Valentine, Slowdive, Ride, Chapterhouse, and Lush.
• Related Genres: Shoegaze is related to and sometimes overlaps with other genres like dream%20pop and noise%20pop.