The claims made in many places down the years about various rock styles were also true of shoegaze for a long time: the introverted, dreamy sub-genre from the 90s was thought by most to be slipping into a tired, smiling death. But those days are over, thanks partly to Moonpools. The five-piece band from Basel, Switzerland, are transcribing the intoxicating walls of sound by bands such as My Bloody Valentine and the surreal grace of the Cocteau Twins into the here and now. Musically streamlined, in other words stripped down to the essentials, the Moonpools endow their songs with all the ingredients needed for a modern shoegazy sound with dream-pop sprinkles. Yet they forgo over-the-top production quality so as to evoke an authentic, delicately washed-out, slightly rough mind movie in the audience’s heads. It's a recipe that worked brilliantly on the debut EP "Damaged Goods" (2022). With their second studio release "Hide And Seek" (2024) though, the band will be showing their creative energy even more impressively this year, including how to present it all live when they perform for us in September.