Review Summary: The worst thing to happen to shoegaze since Infinite Granite?
おはよう putana welcome to 2023 it is (already) time to talk about shoegaze. There are two kinds of shoegaze: first and foremost, the Good Shoegaze that brings to life fuzzy heart-rending homogeneity with astounding textural nuance and/or poses a delicious marriage for just about any atmospherically-oriented genre on the map; secondly, the Bad Dull Shoegaze that sounds like dead air curdling around itself and/therefore finds itself copypasted across the cobwebby end of Bandcamp on a daily basis. These are the two slices of the ontological sandwich upon which Shoegaze-Project-In-Question
Breadgaze is thrust. Things immediately get bogged down in the sticky g(L)aze of honey; this record is absolutely in no universe good enough to merit inclusion in Shoegaze #1 but is too self-aware to be lumped in with Shoegaze #2. This low-effort collection of vapid fuzz pedal strummings over no-effort drum and bass beats does not have its gaze set on its shoes! It is starting at the horizon, the colour of which is
gentle irony. “Breadgaze” - ha! What a fantastic race to the bottom, and for a genre that seemed to have long since arrived there at that!
Digression over: I am being mean (that particular shade of sunset is actually deeply poisonous!), but what are we left with? Small blessings! “Woo” builds to a satisfying finale, and both “Woah” and “Wowza”’s respective integrations of shriller synths and slurpy bass make me wonder whether
Breadgaze might be better viewed as bruschetta served in advance of a full EDMgaze cyberfuck-to-come (spoilers: it’s a B-sides EP). The guitar tones are decent and the drums would be potentially enjoyable if they weren’t overmixed and had a little more shimmer-shimmer cymbal action as per Astrobrite. All songs start quickly and end almost as soon as- ! Few things remain; this release’s depth of impression is the stuff of neither regrets nor lasting memories. bread experiments is a fundumb side-project of Jacob Paddison (aka The Bread Scientists), who strikes me as a good bloke and sounds decently talented when he makes music that isn’t meme shoegaze. Buy him and me a drink immediately.
