There is that other side of shoegaze, the darker, more anxious side. Waves of gray bleakness. Downy disappointment. An examination of distress; itself queasy, restive, unsure. Stagnant Pools go all-in on this kind of shoegaze on their new album, Geist. Intentions, in particular, is a good illustration of this, with the push-and-pull activity of the guitars vs. Bryan Enas's calm & declaratory vocals. It's nice to hear this sound being explored so effectively; there was a short period in the late 80s/early 90s when a few bands had jumped on this, trying to bend the conventions of shoegaze into something more immediately weird/dark/terrifying. The one that did it most successfully, I think, and a probable precedent for Stagnant Pools, is the band Loop. Loop were not, as far as I can tell, super popular. But they made a couple great albums which all deserve some attention, and so here below is Fade Out (from the album of the same name), a wiry masterpiece that dovetails well with Intentions.