Dear Tracks is a shoegaze quartet from Grand Rapids, Michigan featuring the former You Blew It! frontman, Matt Messore, along with Victoria Ovenden, Jacob Juodawlkis, and Alex Militello.

Following a series of 7″ releases and singles, the group’s debut EP, Soft Dreams (via Track and Field Records & Furious Hooves) is laced with star-lit hooks and sparse arrangements while still applying the hazy veil used by shoegaze stalwarts (My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Cocteau Twins).

The gauzy opener, “Moment of Clarity”, ebulliently shimmers with intermittent sways of wobbly synths and blooming guitar hooks. Awash with reverb and glinting tones, the buoyant melody accent the wistfulness felt Messore’s hushed moans of “at last”.

“All The Outs Are Free” runs with a free-falling carousel of glittery synth bleats, transitioning into a more broody timbre that heightened with lush undertones. “Alive” meanders in and out with fluttery guitars, buckling with shifty rhythms that buries the perky pop aerobics with (albeit catchy) ruefulness.

Resembling the rockish shoegaze of Swervedriver, the zippy and hyper melodics on the title-track closer are only a slight deviation from the cosmic malaise that make up the rest of the EP.

Cereal Pairing: Hershey’s Cookies ‘n’ Creme