Modern shoegaze is thriving. Today, Montreal duo Chris Steward and Rosie Long Dector—a.k.a. Bodywash—announced a new album titled I Held the Shape While I Could by sharing the melancholic, foggy single "Massif Central." A roar of guitars and electric current rise to infinite heights during the chorus, but Steward's hushed vocals never lose their ground. Lines like "Nothing stays the same" and "It all goes to shit" rear their heads as Bodywash balance racing anxiety and hopeless acceptance.
“After eight years living in Canada, in the Spring of 2021, a government clerical error caused me to lose my legal status here,” Steward revealed about the song's upsetting inspiration. “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 myself seemed to vanish into a bureaucratic abyss... With the help of friends, family, music, and a few immigration lawyers (and the rest of my savings), I’m now a permanent resident here. But this song remains as testament to my experience with an exploitative institution.”
The single comes with a video made by Jordan Allen, who wanted to "encapsulate the panic and urgency that Chris experienced, and have the abstracts portray the anxiety and hopelessness one can feel at the hands of bureaucracy." Allen further explained that he "chose graphics that heavily leaned into feelings of being lost in a maze, with towering structures and horizon lines pulling you into them. The idea was that the camera would be both a CCTV view of the band, but also glitching to reveal the more emotionally internal visual aspects.”
Watch the video below. I Held the Shape While I Could is out April 14 via Light Organ Records—pre-order it here.
