No question that shoegaze is a healthy genre in the US right now, but if we are being honest, the current incarnation of the sound which incorporates a lot of hardcore and grunge influence. That, as well as a certain aversion to melody and pop that was so key to the appeal of the progenitors of the genre in the ’90s, isn’t really doing it for me.

So thank goodness for outfits like Los Angeles’ Mo Dotti – their name a play on Italian artist Tina Modotti by way of Fugazi – who released their debut Opaque last month, and aren’t shy about cribbing signature sonic moves from the first wave of shoegazers – Reverse the reverb! Crank the chorus! Glide that guitar! – but don’t forego the hooks, and do it all with enough confidence and personality that it comes across not as, “we are giving you what we think you want to hear”, but “this is what we want to hear and we think you’ll like it too”. And for fans of Lush and MBV, the two most obvious touchstones, you will.

They talked to The Big Takeover this past Spring, well before the album was completed and released, about their band origins and early EPs:

Mo(re) Dotti Please! An Interview With Mo Dotti’s Gina Negrini @ The Big Takeover

“Whirling Sad” is one of three singles from Opaque, so far at least, and in an interview with Post-Trash they describe its evolution as:

The song “Whirling Sad” used to have more of a jangle pop vibe, akin to “Glow in the Dark.” One night Joe Trainor (Dummy) was at our house and I was like, “Here’s this song, I don’t know how I feel about it.” And he was like, “you can play it way faster. And a lot crazier.” So we were playing it really fast. We played a couple shows where we made it fast, noisy and crazy. We actually ended up slowing it down a little for the recording. I would say nothing feels final. I would still have made some adjustments. It’s like the Kevin Shields thing, you can keep working on it forever and ever and it’ll never be finished. That’s his practice and he’s a genius and in no way am I comparing ourselves to him. But I know we can keep doing it forever and it can get better and better. At the same time it’s like, let’s just put it out because it’s fun and people want to hear it. 

Gina Negrini, Mo Dotti
Mo Dotti on Band Origins, DIY, and their Excellent New Album | Feature Interview @ Post-Trash