W00T – Autumn
(Fort McMurray, Alberta — Released December 18, 2025)
Shoegaze
With Autumn, W00T emerge from the far north of Alberta with a record that feels shaped by weather, distance, and long quiet stretches of time. This is shoegaze as atmosphere first and foremost: blurred edges, slow-burning momentum, and melodies that seem to surface through fog rather than arrive fully formed. The album doesn’t rush or demand attention; it patiently pulls the listener inward, like falling leaves carried by a cold, steady wind.
True to its title, Autumn is steeped in transition. The guitars drift between softness and abrasion, layers of reverb folding into one another until individual lines dissolve into a single, immersive mass. There’s a sense of restraint throughout the album, as if W00T are more interested in mood than impact, in emotional resonance rather than volume alone. Even at its loudest, the record feels introspective, inward-facing, and quietly heavy.
What sets Autumn apart is its emotional temperature. Rather than leaning into shoegaze’s brighter, euphoric tendencies, W00T favor muted tones and understated melancholy. The songs feel suspended between warmth and cold, nostalgia and detachment, mirroring the season itself — that brief moment when light fades earlier each day but hasn’t yet disappeared entirely. It’s music that lingers, less about catharsis than about acceptance.
Coming from Fort McMurray, a place often associated with extremes, Autumn feels like a personal counterpoint: intimate, reflective, and human. W00T craft a soundscape that suggests solitude without isolation, sadness without despair. The album invites repeated listens, revealing small shifts in texture and emotion each time, like noticing new colors in the same familiar landscape.
Autumn doesn’t reinvent shoegaze — it refines it, distills it, and lets it breathe. A quietly confident release, it stands as a reminder that some of the most affecting music arrives softly, and stays with you long after the last note fades.
© Thusblog
