Shoegaze is a current of alternative rock that took shape in Britain in the late 1980s. Its defining feature is a dense, multilayered “wall of sound” of effects-saturated (reverb, delay, fuzz) guitars, in which the melody and the tender, “dreamy” vocals seem to dissolve, enveloping the listener in a warm sonic haze.
The name “shoegaze” arose ironically: the musicians stood motionless on stage, heads bowed toward their numerous effect pedals. The genre's classics are My Bloody Valentine (their album “Loveless” is the style's benchmark), Slowdive, and Ride, with Cocteau Twins as a precursor. Shoegaze creates hypnotic, cinematic, almost meditative soundscapes. Underrated in its time, it had an enormous influence on subsequent indie and electronic music and underwent a notable revival in the 21st century.
