Emo is not the only genre that has made a powerful return in recent years. If anyone reading this knows me on a personal level, they recognize my unending love for the genre of shoegazing. Loveless is my favorite record ever released, and I absolutely adore the likes of Slowdive, Ride, and Chapterhouse. Shoegazing has made a similar sort of comeback thanks to likes of bands such as Nothing and Whirr (yikes) and I could not be more overjoyed at this fact.
Baltimore’s Wildhoney is a newer band that absolutely deserves the attention of your ear drums if you are a fellow shoegazing fan. The band’s debut LP Sleep Through It is a beautiful example of shoegazing and dream pop combined in perfect harmony and could have comfortably fit on the Creation Records roster. In fact, you could have told me this release came out in 1992 and I would have believed you.
Frontwoman Lauren Shusterich’s vocals are sugary, sweet, and beautifully ethereal. Her voice does not blend into the mix but rather floats gracefully on top which works all too well with the band’s linear songwriting approach. Sleep Through It is a poppy record but the guitarwork displayed by both Joe Trainor and Marybeth Mareski add a spiraling wall of thunderously piercing noise when need be.
If you are catching wind of the shoegazing revival and are looking for a new band that takes on the art, Wildhoney is the ideal band to check out.