Airhockey - You Don't Mind
posted 18 Jan 2019 by Krister Axel
An emotional soundtrack to the decryption of adulthood and the unravelling of life’s secrets.

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Shoegaze. It’s a fun word. In many ways, Airhockey is the quintessential example of dream pop. They are a 4-piece band of friends, unsigned, and their single You Don't Mind is an emotional soundtrack to the decryption of adulthood and the unravelling of life’s secrets. The style here seems to attend to the full-detail and glaring inefficiencies of truth, with an extra scoop of reverb.

It’s a genre within a genre, having risen in the 80’s from the zeitgeist of indie rock that was at first really just anything not signed to a big label, and that had a go-against-the-grain approach to writing pop music. The name emerged from bands like My Bloody Valentine having to look down at their effects pedals all the time. After a few decades of letting the pieces fall where they may, the dominant sound of shoegaze has settled into a mid-tempo pulse, with a lot of 16th notes from a clean electric guitar, contrasted against a second layer of counterpoint. The final element, of course, is a big dreamy vocal with added atmospheric guitar effects, and the juxtaposition you get from a dry band groove chugging away behind a washy lead.

Personally, the style just resonates with me; technically this is ‘nu gaze’, but whatever it is, I hear those original 80’s pop elements, and it just feels like home.

This song is featured on our Lost Treasure - Indie Rock playlist.

About the Author

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Krister Bjornson Axel

Ogdensburg, New York

Paris, France. Madison, Wisconsin. Los Angeles. Ashland, Oregon. Ottawa. I write music, I write about music, and I write code. See also: photography, prose, podcasting. I have 1 gorgeous wife, 2 amazing kids, and many interests.


Recent Awards: 2020 ND (Photo) Honorable Mention, 2020 Accenti Writing Contest Finalist