UNCAPPED 001: AVERKIOU

Averkiou hails from Gainesville, the Sunshine State’s main exporter of anarchism, punk and great music. While Averkiou shares their punchy drums, distorted guitars and love for hardcore with Gainesville’s reigning punk champions Against Me!, they differ radically in textural sensibility. With doubled-up vocals bounced around in an echo chamber and guitars sprayed to the wall with a million springs of reverb, Averkiou clearly belongs to a new lineage of shoegaze bands.

On tracks like “The South Wall” their sound ambles between tingly, tidal guitar washes and reserved crooning the recalls Lee Ranaldo’s best vocals with Sonic Youth. Fans of Sonic Youth will hear distinct inflections straight from “Theresa’s Sound World.” As shoegazers, Averkiou are naturally indebted to the dense guitar tracking of Kevin Shields and his band mates in My Bloody Valentine. The five piece claims Dinosaur Jr., Guided By Voices and Ride among their other main influences.

Perhaps Averkiou’s closest contemporary is UK shoegaze quartet Yuck. Whereas Yuck polishes their pedal-powered songs to a pop finish, Averkiou leaves some of their edges rough. That said, Averkiou’s strongest suit may be their ear for the perfect hook, densely layered under pounds of guitar and distant drums.

With the 2008 release of their debut, Throwing Sparks, Averkiou established themselves as one of the best bands going on the shoegaze-revival circuit. At every show they overload their audience with a wall of sound built with three guitars, drums, and a whole mess of feedback.