what makes a song shoegaze?
today, i am going to dispel a few myths when it comes to this question to accurately define what constitutes a shoegaze song. first, a little introduction to myself. i’m luca, a shoegazer from the thames valley, home of the original shoegaze music scene. i have dedicated my life to the shoegaze genre, with ten years of pedal partners & two dissertations on shoegaze & guitar pedals.
defining characteristics of shoegaze
one thing i always bring to my musicological approach to shoegaze is texture over structure. experimentalism over traditionalism. in shoegaze, a catchy hook, a verse chorus structure are not necessarily important. for me, shoegaze is like painting. it is about filling the canvas with as many beautiful sounds as i can. i create songs vertically, not horizontally. i am building these songs up, cascading waves of pure noise. an example of this sound is the shoegaze song 'ethereal' by violet oscillation.
guitar effects in shoegaze explained
there is arguably not a genre more closely associated with guitar effects as shoegaze music. although as becca of all-female shoegaze band abstract in sound describes "it is not necessarily about the effects being used, but how those effects are used.” let’s pinpoint a few unique signifiers of effects in shoegaze, effects uniquely used in shoegaze music and effects used in shoegaze in a unique way. i’m not going to reach for the easiest example, which would be distortion, because nearly every single music genre uses this effect. hence the use of distortion is not a unique signifier for shoegaze music and does not necessarily make a song shoegaze.
an effect used uniquely within shoegaze is reverse reverb. in other genres the effect is an afterthought at best. in fact, i can’t think of any other genre that uses reverse reverb. so, if you are listening to a song with reverse reverb, that is a strong indicator that you might be listening to a shoegaze song. used in conjunction with shoegaze glide guitar technique, reverse reverb creates warped swells with songs going in and out of tune. one of my favourite examples of shoegaze reverse reverb and glide guitar is the song 'reminiscer' by abstract in sound. to dive deeper, check out our dreamgazer pedal, which is the reverse reverb pedal we made for shoegaze guitar tone.
i use various types of reverse reverb. i am really interested in a nostalgic sound so i make my own shoegaze pedals to have vintage warmth which is achieved by using vintage engineering. i am very passionate about this. for me to get an authentic sound in my own music, that’s what i use. reverse reverb is already a niche effect but to go even deeper, blossom is a particular type of reverse reverb that i have within my mesmeriser and dreamgazer pedals where a rising envelope blossoms into an all encompassing ethereal reverb.
delay is one of my favourite effects for making ethereal music. a band who really understand how to use delay are abstract in sound, for example, on the song 'your gaze'. one of my favourite shoegaze bands Slowdive use this effect prominently - it was ‘Souvlaki Space Station’ from the band’s 1993 album ‘Souvlaki’ that first got me into guitar pedals and shoegaze. i love using my blush delay pedal & reminiscer reverb/delay pedal in my own music to create cascading walls of noise.
the shoegaze guitar technique
a technique that is central to the shoegaze genre is glide guitar, a method of playing the guitar which was first used effectively by My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields. it involves altering the pitch of rhythm guitar parts via the bending of the guitar’s vibrato arm. this is a unique and non-traditional application of the vibrato arm, unlike any other genre. i often use this technique in tandem with reverse reverb and distortion to create my warped walls of noise. you can hear a really prominent use of glide guitar on the track 'veil' by violet oscillation.
unlike with most musical genres, in the shoegaze music that paige, becca & myself make we don’t give vocals any special prominence. instead, we layer our vocals amongst instruments, another part of the sonic palette which creates the full picture. you can really hear this on our song 'primordial learning' by violet oscillation. we use vocals in a very unique way that i haven’t seen anywhere else. we love creating light and ethereal moments. as abstract in sound have said “like something from a distant dream.”
why is it called shoegaze?
shoegaze is very much not about musical showmanship. instead of guitar solos and falsetto vocals, shoegazers prefer staring at their guitar pedals, introverted and immersed within the layers of beautiful music they are creating. shoegazers use all the aforementioned techniques to create what to me is the most beautiful of genres.
Watch the Full Film: What Makes A Song Shoegaze?