Bleak House - 2014 - Suki Flood//Walton Cobbles

Quality: 3.75 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

Can't forget that we've got shoegazing returning to the forefront of our soundworld.  Here's a single from some folks in the UK living that dream as hard as they can.  Yeah, all the alternately buzzing and floating guitars are accounted for, and this release could easily date from 1990, but there's nothing wrong with that.  "Suki Flood" rides the waves of Slowdive for that dream-pop sound, although I was kind of hoping the song would eventually open up the walls of pure distortion as shoegazers are wont to do.  We do get some more full force buzz on "Walton Cobbles," which grasp for the Bloody Valentine's early (mid-period?) low-fi buzz.  Speaking of lo-fi, while this single sports some fine production, the final sound is a touch on the muffled side. I would suggest to these intrepid performers to notch the treble up just a bit for future mastering (but not too much).

On an even more unrelated note, I want to gauge your opinions on what is required for shoegaze guitar.  The typical philosophy seems to be that you need a massive effects board and 50 overdubs.  After reading an interview with Kevin Shields' however, I've been taking the approach that you only need two or three guitars tops in a song, and possibly no effect - just a tube amp cranked up to 11 and overdriven to hell.  Also, do you have to be British to properly shoegaze?  Did Galaxie 500 count?  Discuss.

Anyway, Bleak House!!!
Bleak House - 2014 - Suki Flood//Walton Cobbles