I've been wanting for a while to get back to that Pitchfork list of 50 Best Shoegaze Albums. As I reported in the post at that link, I've only heard a third or so of the albums listed there, and although I didn't expect to like them all it seemed way more than likely that I would find some music there that I would really like. So I picked this one, which seems to be pretty high on everyone's list.

Charming cover, isn't it? I admit I am very strongly influenced by album covers, but I don't think that was a strong factor in this case, as I was listening on Pandora and hadn't more than glanced at the image. No, I think it's the music itself that produced my not-positive reaction. I put it that way because I don't actively dislike the album. It just isn't what I want to hear, so much so that I'm violating my three-hearings rule, the rule that I have to listen to a piece of music at least three times, with some reasonable level of attention, before committing myself to a definite opinion about it. 

By any reasonable standard it's good work--interesting, complex, technically accomplished. But without being directed to do so I don't think I would have categorized it as shoegaze. It's pretty hard rock, though so jagged and varied in its beats that it wouldn't fit in on your average hard rock radio station or playlist. I was even reminded of grunge at times. What I don't hear is the dreamy melodicism, often or usually drenched in guitar noise, of the shoegaze music that I like.

I complain about the fact that the lyrics in a lot of shoegaze are more or less unintelligible, sometimes almost inaudible. That's not the case here. But unfortunately I don't find the lyrics especially appealing. Like the music, they're hard-edged; the cover art is not inappropriate. Here's the first track. 

Not bad at all. And obviously the applicability or not of the "shoegaze" label doesn't matter, as labels of that sort are not to be treated as anything more than rough indicators. But, as I said, it's just not what I want to hear.