The Giraffe Told Me in My Dream — Velvet Distortion EP

The Giraffe Told Me in My Dream is a band name you’re unlikely to forget and so it has proven with their latest release, the Velvet Distortion EP. So, who are this enigmatic outfit? Good question. There’s little to no information on the band online only adding to that air of mystery that has already turned a whisper into cult admiration.

This Taiwanese shoegaze outfit first surfaced publicly with the Slowfall EP back in 2019, and since then they’ve existed in a sort of slow burn. quietly gathering attention in dream-pop and shoegaze circles for their gauzy textures and emotive pull. Velvet Distortion is their second EP and release to date. Over the last few weeks I’ve slowly been falling in love with both this band and the EP. Let me tell you why.

The EP opens with ‘Shallow’ surely a nod to the MBV influence in their sound. We hear a soft echo of guitar reverb, a voice that hovers at the brink of clarity, and an undercurrent of shimmering distortion that buzzes in the periphery. It doesn’t demand your attention; it invites you in. The intro seems delicate, but stretched just so your senses sharpen. This song immediately made me sit up and go, hang on, I think I’m about to hear so0mething really special.

Then ‘Glimpse’ sweeps in, longer and more expansive. It builds slowly, unfolding. Hazy vocals float atop washes of guitar shimmer. There are moments when the guitars are soft, almost forgiving, then in the chorus they swell, pressing forward like waves gathering momentum before they break. Midway through, there’s a passage where the instrumentation drops back, you’re left with voice and distant strumming, before the guitars erupt again. That section made the hair on my arms stand up. What a stunning song.

By the time ‘Blurry’ arrives, the EP has already softened you. This leans more into the dreampop sound. The title is apt: at times the guitars drift so far back in the mix they feel like a dream you almost forgot. The vocals take charge here and it’s a dual attack, male and female vocals trade licks in tandem, never slipping into harmony singing. It’s a neat trick that only makes this track stand out more from what has come before.

‘Before’ closes the EP with velvet gloved uppercut. It’s darker, braver, more restless. The song moves through shifts in loudness, sometimes intimate and hushed, sometimes all guitars flashing. In its closing stretch, the guitars surge, voices echo, and I felt like I was riding a wave cresting just as it washes over you. It ends, and you’re left suspended. What a way to close out the EP.

What Velvet Distortion leaves behind is less a collection of songs and more a lingering atmosphere. It feels like a dream you wake from slowly, each song a fragment that stays with you for hours after. Across its four tracks, The Giraffe Told Me in My Dream manage to say more with texture and tone than most bands do with entire albums. There’s a quiet confidence running through the EP, a sense of purpose beneath the haze, even as everything swirls in that gauzy shimmer the band are quickly becoming known for.

Velvet Distortion cements The Giraffe Told Me in My Dream as one of the most intriguing acts in the current shoegaze underground. They’ve managed to take familiar sounds and make them feel new again. When the last note fades, you realise the silence feels different now. The air has changed. And that, really, is the mark of something special. Now when I’m asked why I love shoegaze so much I need only show this EP.

Velvet Distortion is out now on CD via Shore Dive Records. Be sure to check out the bands Bandcamp to stream or buy.

You can follow The Giraffe Told Me in My Dream on social media here.

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