After the initial dissolution of Tokyo Shoegazer in 2013, three of the remaining members opted to continue playing together and formed a new band, CQ, that was less constrained by genre – after all, when you’re called Tokyo Shoegazer, some assumptions on the part of the listener are inevitable. As drummer Hiroshi Sasabuchi told The Japan Times in 2015:

“We didn’t plan on doing Tokyo Shoegazer for very long initially, but when we put out the record it sold more than expected, so we decided to try it out for a while Because we put the word ‘shoegazer’ in the band name, we were really limited in what we could do. Compared to that, I feel like we’re really free now.”

Hiroshi Sasabuchi, CQ/Tokyo Shoegazer
CQ will take you to the world’s end @ The Japan Times

The band released one full length – Communication, Cultural, Curiosity Quotient – in 2016 and then turned their attention back to Tokyo Shoegazer, reuniting that outfit for 2019’s Moondiver and continuing on through today.

CCCQ definitely welcomed more ideas into the mix than their once and future project – post-punk, pop, j-rock and nu-metal all have moments and there’s still an obvious shoegaze debt – and this variety might be to the record’s overall detriment as some of the stylistic swerves are whiplash-inducing, but there are hight points and overall it’s an interesting listen.

Having successfully brought Tokyo Shoegazer back to life, they are now attempting the same with CQ who seem to have found a new audience via streaming and socials. Via a freshly minted Instagram, they announced an Asian tour this Fall consisting (so far) of two dates – one in Tokyo, one in Hong Kong – but more activity is likely to follow. Perhaps a reissue of the album?

The lyric video – I didn’t recall those being a thing in 2016 but I guess they were – is the only official media from the album.