The early nineties London based, 'Shoegazing' scene has had a surprisingly notable legacy. You can hear its influence everywhere now, strange given that it was pretty much mocked at the time as the product of a ragbag of uncharismatic and often indistinguishable musicians who hid in shyness behind long fringes and covered over their lack of songwriting skills with swathes of guitar pedal effects.
Moose were one of the lesser remembered bands from this scene who I was vaguely interested in at the time without actually investing in the records. Fronted by two former employees of London Tape and Record Exchange shops, establishments that music obsessives from that time would remember as being staffed by slightly surly and definitely superior shop assistants.
Moose had something of this air about them. They knew their music too, a sure sign of people who'd spent their apprenticeship plotting in just such an environment. Here are some songs from their early EPs which got some attention from the music press without quite garnering enough sales to make the actual charts. They're products of their time. You can tell that the band probably favour black clothing. The vocals are that particular under the breath, muttered, throwaway delivery, so common at the time, that owe a clear debt to The Jesus & Mary Chain and beyond that The Velvet Underground. The swathes of guitar sounds are more interesting and evocative. Suzanne even has a pinch of genuine drama about it. The band's other records are also worth cupping an ear to.
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