In a city full of avid garage heads, there are many who seek a lo-fi atmosphere, but few who maintain it on a stage. When a sonic aesthetic is more than a hashtag, it can be a special connection to an audience that connects us as musicians, more as a dig at nostalgia than a tribute to the past. Ever since the untimely departures of Eat Skull and Meth Teeth, there has been a glaring void for local psych rockers who pull off a grunge-indebted presence while creating a mountain of sound, but out this year’s winter gloom comes Still Caves.
Lo-fi is seen by some listeners as sloppy, but the irony is that it to do it well requires a refined sense of when less is more. The simplicity of a few chords becomes a powerful statement when run through a maze of pedals. Still Caves accomplish this and more with four musicians and a wall of decibels. While shoegaze would be an obvious descriptor, the band’s rare attribute of having a drummer as a lead singer throws unique color into the haze of their drone. The drums are front and center as a driving force, acting as a glue for an atmosphere of dense reverb and heavy overdrive conjured by the two guitars and bass. With only two self-released songs available via Bandcamp as of this post, it’s evident that Still Caves has the aforemention "refined sense" and intends to deliver something different to an oversaturated genre. With a proper release soon to come though, consider our psych scene primed to emerge from its recent hybernation.
— Wyatt Schaffner