According to the all-seeing-eye/ hive-mind that is wikipedia “Shoegaze is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volume.” Nice try, particularly if you are describing the heavier MBV/ Swervedriver/ Ride/ Catherine Wheel etc. end. But the “feedback and overwhelming volume” is often missing from the best examples of the genre, like Lush, Slowdive, Pale Saints, Ozean and, well Christchurch, NZ practitioner of the art, T.G. Shand as demonstrated here on “Cinnamon” from last year’s EP of that name.

Perhaps T.G. Shand blurs the line between ‘shoegaze’ and dream-pop in a similar way to Cocteau Twins by creating dream-gaze or gaze-pop. Or maybe it’s just, you know, music and we should just enjoy it and soak in the pools of reverb and chorus guitars and not try to analyze and overthink it too much (sorry). OK. Let’s just do that…