Shoegaze has been making a bit of a resurgence lately. The dreamy, washed-out late-‘80s/early ‘90s variant of post-punk sort of overlapped with the grunge era, and so the two strains cross-pollinated, resulting in a type of heavy rippling psychedelic alternative rock.
Swirlies, originally from Boston, were part of the American wave of bands making rock with distorted drones, howling overdriven guitars and lumbering rhythm sections. The band also deployed taped sounds, radio hiss and alternate tunings to create its wobbly and denatured sound.
By the time Swirlies released “They Spent Their Wild Youthful Days in the Glittering World of the Salons,” their impressive and impressively titled second full-length, in 1996, the band had had numerous lineup changes and had started to drift more toward abstraction and whiplash contrasts, making the shoegaze label seem a little off.
One couldn’t necessarily stare off into space while making this music, or listening to it. Swirlies were always a little more lo-fi, angular, experimental and unpredictable than many other bands. Incidentally, Swirlies came up with their own name for what they did: they called it sneaky flute music. Seems strangely apt.
Swirlies play the Space Ballroom, 295 Treadwell St., Hamden, on Thursday, Oct. 4, at 8 p.m. $15.203-288-6400, spaceballroom.com
