‘Shoegaze’ emerged in the UK in the late 80s, reaching its apex in 1990, before fizzling out in the mid 90s. Just a few years of fuzzed out, atmospheric, dreamy guitar gave birth to one of the most influential musical styles of the last two decades. The ‘shoegaze’ label was invented by the British music press because the band members spent most of their time fiddling with their effects pedals during performances, as opposed to interacting with the audience. They were coined “The scene that celebrates itself,” thus marking the end of shoegaze. They were viewed as middle-class and aloof, a complete foil to the grunge movement across the Atlantic. This gave rise to the working class-oriented Britpop movement spearheaded by Oasis.
Recently, many bands have breathed life back into the genre, grafting the proverbial “wall of sound” onto contemporary indie rock/pop. New Yorkers Asobi Seksu are one of these revisionists, and exhibited their brand of “nu-gaze” March 18th at the Hi-Tone in Memphis. The late Sunday night show began with an interesting fusion of broody 80s atmospheric rock and the fuzzy guitar and percussion driven stylings of Ride, in the form of little-known Memphis act Twin Pilots. While not even a year old, the atmospheric/lo-fi sounds of Twin Pilot reveal a budding talent that best exemplifies the ‘nu-gaze’ ethic of fusion and experimentation as opposed to direct retro-revisionism.
Asobi Seksu’s passionate performance formed a nice dichotomy to the evening, as Twin Pilot’s ambient tunes gave way to the more propulsive prog-rock of the NYC quartet. Strobe lights flashed as the electronic beats, wailing guitars, and powerful percussion produced an aura of intensity that excited the 60-plus capacity crowd. Though mostly playing material from 2006’s break-through album Citrus (just as they did on last year’s national tour), the band demonstrated visual and aural improvement in their instrumental performance. Guitarist and co-founder James Hanna seemed less rigid than last year’s show, exhibiting the more polished and layered ambient sound of the new album, while still maintaining Asobi’s characteristic intensity. As always, singer and keyboardist Yuki Chikudate was adorable and vibrant with her honeyed, melodic vocals and entrancing presence, despite the keyboard eclipsing the diminutive Yuki.
Tonight, Asobi Seksu reinforced their status as one of America’s best ‘nu-gaze’ groups, creating an atmosphere most dream-pop groups couldn’t imagine. The high point of the night came when Yuki abandoned the ivories to play drums in the band’s final minutes so drummer Mitch Spivak could pound Asobi’s trademark tambourine on his standing cymbal. Asobi Seksu demonstrated the budding creativity and progressive sounds of the ‘nu-gaze’ aesthetic, as they grooved and sashayed their way through a brief but gratifying 10-song set. Energetic and frenzied, serene and melodic, in the hands of the thrilling Asobi Seksu, the spirit of ‘shoegaze’ is alive and well.
~ Wes Barker
