Los Angeles’ Tombstones In Their Eyes trade in Shoegaze’s usual wispy, ethereal detachment for a more red-blooded, muscular American fever dream on Maybe Someday.



Los Angeles evokes a different sort of delirium in its own right.

Los Angeles isn’t exactly the first place that comes to mind when you think of the dreamy, gauzy rain-on-lens detachment of Shoegaze. Whereas much first-wave Shoegaze evokes moody, misty landscapes like UK or Ireland from which much of it sprang, to the more futuristic, neon-soaked impressionist blurs of Tokyo, Los Angeles evokes a different sort of delirium in its own right. The perennial sunstroke of a city with 284 days a year; the buffeting torrent of the Santa Ana winds, leaving sand and mesquite stuck in yr teeth; the exhaustion of perpetually keeping-up-with-the-Joneses; of walking for 2 miles in an unceasing concrete jungle in search of a coffee shop; the alienation of living in a city of 4 million with a fast turnover rate. It’ll leave you every bit as dazed as a 3-day speed bender, living with clinical depression, or a mis-spent youth drowning in psychedelic arthouse cinema, but still in its own unique way.



This is the world from which Tombstones In Their Eyes springs, the desert oasis from which their second long-player, Maybe Someday, springs like a patch of belladonna or hen’s bane.



Tombstones In Their Eyes play a particularly American form of shoegaze, and a particularly SoCal variant at that. They bring out the dirty, distorted, deranged, drug-addled amplifier worship of proto-Shoegaze acts like Dinosaur Jr., Husker Du, and The Jesus and Mary Chain inherent of the early Shoegaze classics and arc-welds them to some Josh Homme‘s Desert Sessions creosote-soaked psych rock.



Takes the drug-addled amplifier worship of early Shoegaze classics and arc-welds them to some Josh Homme‘s Desert Sessions creosote-soaked psych rock.

Tombstones In Their Eyes is more high-octane, more driving, more hurtling heavy metal than their Anglican counterparts. Sonically, they fall in-line with American Shoegaze bands like Swervedriver combined with some more modern, muscular bands like the under-appreciated, dearly-departed Creepoid or Whirr. Ironically, given the somewhat doom-and-gloom influences of Maybe Someday, it’s actually Tombstones In Their Eyes’ brightest, most positive record to date.



Speaking on the mood behind Maybe Someday, vocalist/guitarist John Treanor says, ““This set of songs still carries a bit of the sadness and depression that permeated some of our earlier stuff, but I was definitely in a better place this time around (although you may not be able to tell by the lyrics). Less depression and catharsis, more joy.”



Somewhat ironically, again, but Maybe Someday actually sounds even moodier than their earlier work, despite the lighter, brighter mood. The trademarked sheets of Shoegaze guitar are underpinned with almost metallic hooks and guitar riffs, for one thing. Treanor’s vocals are suitably fogged and shrouded in reverb as well, naturally, to the point where it’s hard to make out what they’re saying. That’s actually a net positive, however, as it makes you lean in, pay closer attention. Sometimes random phrases will cut through the murk, like on “The Demon,” an album highlight, “There’s a monster in my head/he wants me dead” It’s the kind of thing that makes multiple listens so rewarding.



You’ll want to listen repeatedly, make no bones about that. Maybe Someday is almost criminally short. I’ve been listening on repeat all weekend long, getting my thoughts together, letting Treanor’s guitars wash over me like aforementioned Santa Ana winds. Maybe Someday is like a cosmic portal to some SoCal boardwalk, watching the sunset, bathing palm trees in a crepuscular pastel haze. It’s a more direct, more heated take on Shoegaze’s ethereal distance, but it’s every bit as lovely. Score: A

Maybe Someday is out now on Somewherecold Records

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About Emerald Tablet Collective

Emerald Tablet Collective is a group of artists , writers, designers, musicians, and performance artists dedicated to gathering and sharing magick and mythological artworks from throughout time and across various cultures.



Emerald Tablet Collective are bringing back the ancient science of Hermeticism, a combination of art, science, magick, and philosophy, working in nearly every conceivable medium in several cities. Emerald Tablet Collective are based out of Portland, Oregon and Los Angeles, California.



Emerald Tablet Collective Includes:

Adam S. Lichi

J Simpson:

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Forestpunk

Mastering Modernity

Annalise Sullivan:

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Melissa Sullivan:

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