Throwbacks

Young Kwak

Reverb's bassist/keyboardist Alex Morrison, left, and guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Adam Breeden

Shoegaze is supposed to be dead. Born in Britain in the late 1980s, the genre was made popular by bands like Cocteau Twins, Ride and My Bloody Valentine.

It’s sonic chaos incarnate: slow and quiet one minute, loud and fast-paced the next.

And — most importantly, given the name — bands that played the genre shed the bombastic stage performances of ’80s rock bands and instead stared at the ground as they played.

While shoegaze has largely dropped off the airwaves, two Spokane musicians have revived the sound — using distortion artfully layered over effects pedals and droning guitars — in their latest project, Reverb.

Drinking a beer at the Satellite Diner, vocalist/guitarist/keyboard player Adam Breeden and bassist Alex Morrison talk about the ethereal, techno-heavy sound of the band.

“I don’t think our personalities match our music,” Breeden says.

Both Breeden and Morrison reluctantly played piano as kids before branching out to other instruments: guitar for Breeden, and just about every instrument ever made for Morrison, who equates his childhood home to Hoffmann Music.

In their late 20s, they are already veterans of the local music scene: Morrison played bass in the Booze Fighters until that band fizzled recently, and Breeden was the guitarist and singer for the popular Reverb-esque band, Oil of Angels.

When Oil of Angels faded out, Breeden played a few shows solo before connecting with Morrison a year ago. They’ve been Reverb ever since.

Together, their “Slip Into The Grave” is a more upbeat My Bloody Valentine, with Breeden’s vocals never getting louder than a whisper, and “Dead For Days” makes a major impact despite its minimalist sound.

“I don’t go out trying to make ‘shoegaze’ music,” Breeden says. “I just try and make music that I like to play and listen to.”

Like it or not, though, Reverb is bringing shoegaze back.