Toronto’s own shoegaze festival Loveless Fest dials up this weekend and while the lineup impresses with a balance of higher profile international (read: American) acts to spice up the locals from the GTA and southern Ontario, there’s some domestic acts from a little further afield who bring an extra element of discovery to the schedule. I’m unable to attend this year – again – but did take the time to pick through the names on the poster to see if there’s something new and interesting for my ears, and indeed there was.

Shallow is a band name that’s been used by many and even generated some lawsuits, and was familiar to me from the used CD bins of the ’90s thanks to the output of a Kansas dreampop band of the era, but in this instance belongs to a Montreal outfit with just two singles to their name.

Both are built on drum loops and glide guitar – their band name is a not-so-subtle nod to My Bloody Valentine, if it wasn’t obvious – but they play a whole lot cleaner than their idols and the result is dreamier, groovier, and trippier. With only seven minutes of recorded output, they haven’t managed to incite any lawyers yet but both songs are quite good and so if they continue down this path, they may need watch their emails for C&Ds.