silt.’s “shadowhands” finds new weight in the familiar haze of shoegaze

Caustic guitar feedback colliding with a delicate vocoded voice creeping through the quiet. That’s how “shadowhands” opens, where tender acoustic chords and new wave licks are thrusted into a robust, crowded wall of sound. Its pervasive moodiness is archetypal of pouring immense emotion into the electric guitar. A harder, heavier sensibility, so potently put to song, is a first for Oliver Beardmore. The brains behind silt., he now labels his output as such to earnestly and accurately represent the many contributors to the music, indicative of its current iteration. Explaining the catalyst for “shadowhands”, Beardmore shares that it stemmed from trying to funnel everyone’s musical interests: “To try and marry the electronic hyperpop elements with guitar music was definitely the remit for where we ended up in that song.” The lead-up to this era of greater intent was like siltation – it’s been a slow process. Beardmore’s take on alternative guitar music was credited to his real name, and only in the past few years, following 2024’s Swimming in the Light of a Cold Star EP, did the core lineup of around ten members settle. Most came from stints in previous bands, including each other’s ...