Shoegaze has turned into one of those genres of music that I always treat harshly. Part of this might be how in love with dreamy, guitar-centric music I was when I was younger, how it filled me with ~feelings~ of vague hope and sadness. Whether I’ve just hardened or time or been able to not fall for everything blissed out, I’m not sure, but it takes a very special sort of shoegaze to get me excited anymore…especially in a country like Japan, where people love this stuff. At first glance, Berserker Children Club is just a band with a great name and a so-so song. The first track on their Someday EP is called “I Don’t Know,” and it isn’t bad by a long shot. The guitars are assertive, and enough interesting stuff happens on the edge to keep your attention. The vocals bring to mind Hotel Mexico, an all-together-now delivery that blurs everything together into a sexless void of sound. Still, it sounds like a lot of other shoegaze songs. It’s alright.
Then the title track comes on…and I’m caught off guard how great it is. “Someday” is nearly seven minutes of slow build, of hard-hitting drums and those same all-together now singing. Yet BCC give the song more room to breath, to let the group sing together. The music sounds fragile, a synth blurbles and a guitar plays a few notes. That singing becomes almost like a prayer, something powerful. Then the guitars pick up, distortion entering the song, which only makes it even stronger. Then the voices fade after one more incantation, and the music just plays on and on. It’s oddly…holy. It ends with the voices one more time. This is the shoegaze that hits me now. Listen below, or get it here.