“More shoegaze. MORE SHOEGAZE. MOAR!” is what my inner editorial consultant tends to say. I’m OK with this.

Tape Deck Mountain is one of those acts whose choice in name is way too questionable (or not ironic enough?) for how seriously good the material is. You can tell that principle member Travis Trevisan knows his stuff. This, of course, is the problem with so many nouveau shoegaze artists, though — they put My Bloody Valentine and Loveless on such a high pedestal that all the output sounds dull and derivative, like a copy of a copy of a copy. But TDM seems to have a grasp on the demure moodiness that made the early 90s movement so alluring: it’s like he set up a playdate with a tremolo pedal and a whammy bar in a zero gravity chamber.

Immediately airy but still heavy enough to throw off your equilibrium, Trevisan also manages to stick in more than a few sing-along melodies, making the forthcoming LP Sway (out October 1 on Nineteen98) a release I’m eagerly waiting for.