The Chicago-based Diagonal is a band that found out their own path through the music realm of shoegaze thanks to, as they state, "melding reverb soaked shoegaze with a subtle dose of '80s pop & '60s psychedelia". What it sounds like can be checked on the December EP by the Americans.
And so the first that draws the listener's attention is the expressive vocal by Andy Ryan, that is certainly closer to the classics from before a few decades than to shoegaze whispers. But thanks to that, Diagonal's music has less of the oneiric and more of the psychedelic vibe that's clearly best heard in Wise Mary. On the other hand, the withdrawn, a bit dim guitars together with the rest of the music create this dense background that is surely the shoegaze heritage. Also here however, it is modified and with some retro lifting due to the tracks compositions of the 80s. This combination is intriguing and refreshing, it is absolutely worth giving chance to the psychedelic oneirism from Chicago.
You Are Free costs 5 USD.
Check: Wise Mary
Country: Illinois, US
Genre: psychedelic shoegaze
