Lazyeyes – “Adaptation”

What generation of shoegaze are we on now anyway? I suppose it depends when you start counting, but for me, the venerated-yet-oft-derided genre begins in The Year of Our Lord Jesus and Mary Chain 1985, with the release of “Psychocandy” – and I won’t hear any argument from you Gnostic Cocteau Twins fans out there. So, if we start counting in 1985, that must make 1988’s release of “Isn’t Anything” something like the Resurrection/Ascension, making 1990’s “Nowhere” the Blinding of Saul on the Road to Damascus…

…which brings us to present, where we find the whatever-generation-we-settled-on quasi-shoegazers Lazyeyes doing a downright decent job of spreading the fuzzed-up Word. But, like the idealistic missionaries of any budding religion, they’ve added some very necessary and relatable parts to the canon – like a double-time beat, as seen in the crackerjack new single “Adaptation.”

That’s right – these Brooklyn-based youngsters in Lazyeyes have made shoegaze that you can do more than sway to, a fact that will no doubt have some aged supplicants shouting “Heresy!” and stoking the bonfires. But Lazyeyes, formed in 2012 and thus the equivalent of newly-frocked shoegaze priests just out of Reid Brothers Seminary, borrow as liberally from the non-canonical writings of rogue vicar Bernard Sumner as they do from the officially-sanctioned testaments of Pope Kevin Shields. The result is a reverb-soaked Reformation coupled with a cathedral door-nailing rhythm that has the potential to bring the once untouchable shoegaze Gospel down to the masses as well as the already-converted. And, as any missionary will tell you, that’s a good thing.

“Adaptation” is the second single off the band’s upcoming EP “New Year.” No tour plans have been announced yet, but if you’re in New York, you can catch Lazyeyes at the following upcoming CMJ shows.

Tuesday, 10/21 @ The Flatt (Free Williamsburg CMJ)
Friday, 10/24 @ Matchless (Supercrush Studios CMJ)