Brooklyn’s Patrick McIntyre has been churning out shoegaze pop tunes under the name HOUNDSds (pronounced “hounds”) for several years now. The music conjures images of the late 80’s but with a modern inflection. While the term “bedroom artist” is typically thrown out when describing McIntyre’s music, his new album “Phone Thou” has a full band feel to it. The 7 track nostalgia-tinged album, released this past month, is available on cassette through Chill Mega Chill Records (as well as being free digitally).

Phone Thou uses a combination of electric and acoustic guitar, dreamy synths, minimal drums, and reverbed vocals to create a web of shoegazey dream pop. McIntyre clearly draws inspiration from the 80’s classics like My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus and Mary Chain, but also incorporates some more modern sounds reminiscent of Atlas Sound or Ariel Pink into his music. The 25 minutes of Phone Thou culminates with the final track “By the Time I Get to Kalamazoo,” a bass driven song guided by distant vocals and dreamy synths.

While the music of HOUNDSds relies heavily on reverb effects and the spacey aesthetic, the music is much more than some dude making noise in his bedroom. The music focuses on song structure and precise instrumentation as much as it does experimentation.

-WMc