If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Sasha Khalimonova It's been a while since we've heard from Bodywash, but the Montreal based duo are back with new music. "Lapsang" is that perfect chilled out blend of shoegaze and dream pop that we loved when we first discovered them in 2024. The song seems to float around you, and it's about as delicate sounding as the genre can be. The song does veer from the expected sound into something that seems to mix indie rock, country, and hip hop at the very end, but aside from that, "Lapsang" is a chilled out, spaced out track that is going to delight shoegaze and dream pop superfans... as long as they have open minds. Chris Steward says of his band's latest single: “‘Lapsang’ is an ode to Montreal's Little Italy neighborhood and the years I spent there, waiting for the 55 bus. It's named after my favourite, impossibly smokey blend of tea, which has the most sing-song of names: Lapsang Souchong. The riff and verse were written during an ...

Photo by Kristina Pederson Montreal's Bodywash are a duo consisting of Chris Steward and Rosie Long Decter. Their new single, "Massif Central," is a surprisingly upbeat if somewhat haunting song mixing shoegaze and dream pop, relying quite a bit on the pop side of things. "Massif Central" is a giant, swirling wall of fuzz forced along at a relatively quick and cheery clip. I wouldn't normally describe shoegaze as bouncy, but that is where Bodywash come in. This is the kind of song where the beauty and dissonance come together to create this lovely wash of noise.  Chris Steward explains the story behind the song: “After eight years living in Canada, in the Spring of 2021, a government clerical error caused me to lose my legal status here. As a UK national, I lost my right to work. My savings trickled away during months where I could do little but pace the corners of my apartment. I was prepared to pack my bags and leave as the life I’d hoped to construct for ...