Shoegaze is entering a renaissance period before our very eyes, and it couldn’t be a more invigorating revelation for the beloved genre. For the past few years, shoegaze acts have been exploding out of every corner of the world, some dedicating their sonic adventures to preserving the heyday of the sound. In contrast, others see this resurgence as an opportunity to etch their names into the genre with razor-sharp experimentation. Cashier, the Louisiana four-piece, is happily joining the latter. Over the past few years, the band has been releasing singles of intricate fusion work, combining the lushness of shoegaze with the edge of post-hardcore, creating a proper, immersive vehicle for their deeply confessional songwriting.
Cashier has found a new home on Julia’s War Recordings, a ring leader in this new wave of shoegaze, and their debut project for the label has arrived. The Weight is the six-song debut EP from this promising young band, and the title is far from just catchy. Cashier is now part of one of the most innovative labels working today, thanks to a strong buzz generated by expressive singles and fearless creativity, and that pressure can be crippling for a band. Everything that can go right is happening to Cashier, and The Weight is their opportunity to seize the blinding spotlight that has been shone on them from the shoegaze community. Six songs to keep the flame alive, and the band doesn’t waste a second.
Cashier is far from ignorant of the pressures of a debut project, especially with the shoegaze world watching their every move, but that stress is nowhere present on The Weight. The four-piece happily dive deeper into the sound that put them on this pedestal in the first place, creating a ripping, vulnerable EP that highlights the intricacies of this young, exhilarating act. These six songs, though, are not an earth-shattering take on shoegaze with the intention of reshaping the genre, nor does it seem like that was the band’s intention. Rather than play into the hype, Cashier becomes more insular, honed, not ignorant of the outside world, but realizing that one can’t fix the world without fixing themselves.
There is a brutal honesty to these six songs that quickly separates Cashier from their peers in the burgeoning shoegaze scene. It is miraculous how much color and emotion fit into the short runtime of The Weight, as the band reimagines their typical cacophonies into tightly wound, expressive slices of poetic rock. While the production on The Weight is immersive, bandleader Kylie Gaspard makes this project so memorable with her songwriting, weaving empathy with personal truths that cut through the grunge-inspired walls of sound, as heard on the infectious highlight “Like I Do.” Gaspard’s innate sense of melody is at the heart of Cashier’s individuality, but it reaches new heights when paired with the all-encompassing sound of The Weight.
From the searing guitars of the quick interlude “For I Never Knew You,” to the palpable longing in songs like the relatable and dense “Same Mistakes” and the distorted bliss of “A Curse I Know So Well,” every moment of this EP is unmistakably Cashier. The unofficial centerpiece of this project, “Part From Me,” with its crashing percussion and jagged guitar riffs, showcases an even more robust, daring sound, a possible preview of where Cashier is heading in the future.
The future is not promised, though, and Cashier is stubbornly aware of that throughout The Weight. The band’s debut EP peels back layers of mystique and distortion to unveil an unflinching four-piece dedicated to reaching new sonic depths. The Weight is not a statement piece for the shoegaze community, but an unforgettable debut from one of the genre’s brightest stars just getting started.
