Cincinnati shoegaze band Slow Glows planned to kick off a three-week tour to the SXSW music festival in Austin, Texas, in March. COVID-19 changed the band's plans.
The trio, made up of singer/guitarist Kelli Redding, bassist Ian Gorby and drummer Rachel Thode, had a release show for its latest single, “Sigh,” at MOTR Pub in Over-the-Rhine on March 6, but the following tour wouldn’t last.
“We got two dates into that and had to turn around, which was kind of a bummer,” Redding said during the band’s WCPO Lounge Acts session.
“Shoegaze,” for the uninitiated, is best defined by guitar effects, dreamy vocals and intense volumes to create ethereal-sounding alternative rock.
“To me it’s like rock music that has kind of a dreamy, spacy element to it,” Redding explained. “It’s lots of use of effects pedals to get that ambiance, other-worldly element.”
The influence of 90s shoegaze icons like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive is apparent on the band’s 2019 debut LP, “Stargaze Rock n Roll.”
“Those were the songs we’d been playing live in Cincinnati for the past two years,” Redding said of the LP. “It’s got a warm vintage sound to it.”
Despite not hitting the road to play music and sell records, the band seems optimistic. “We’re getting creative with how to stay relevant during this,” Thode said.
The band plans to return to Mt. Saturn Studio in Northside next month.
“We’re in the midst of almost being done with writing for our second record,” Redding explained.
You can watch Slow Glows perform and chat when the band's WCPO Lounge Acts session premieres at 7 p.m. Saturday on Facebook and YouTube.
