Inside Drainyou’s Shoegaze Universe Where Dreams and Distortion Collide

Written by Alexandria Anglade

Shoegaze has always prioritized atmosphere and emotion over spectacle, and that philosophy sits at the core of Drainyou’s sound and visual world. For him, shoegaze is not about flashy performance or linear storytelling. It is about feeling. About letting simplicity, texture, and restraint do the heavy lifting. “Less is more,” he says, and that belief shapes everything from his songwriting to the way his music unfolds visually and emotionally.

His connection to shoegaze traces back to late-night drives in the years after summer 2016. A close friend would pick him up in a classic Jeep Cherokee for blunt cruises, soundtracked by Starflyer 59’s “Monterey,” “Hazel Would,” and Title Fight’s Hyperview on repeat. At the time, he did not realize how deeply those moments would imprint on him. A few months later, a relationship introduced him to bands like Whirr, Slowdive, and Pllllush, solidifying his understanding of what shoegaze truly was. It was not flashy rock and roll or broad lyrical narratives. It was beautiful, restrained music that let emotion speak louder than explanation.

That cinematic quality in Drainyou’s music is no accident. Long before shoegaze entered his life, his drummer and close friend Daniel was making alternative rap and sampling WWE promos in his tracks. That early exposure planted the idea that borrowed dialogue could carry emotional weight. Later, hearing Whirr sample Eyes Wide Shut further pushed that influence. Now, Drainyou often finds himself pausing movies when a line hits unexpectedly deep, replaying it, recording it, and saving it for a song. Those moments become anchors, giving listeners subtle guidance through lyrics that are intentionally indirect.

When he samples film dialogue, he is not trying to lock listeners into a single interpretation. Instead, he wants to communicate mood and emotional context. The snippets act as a kind of cheat sheet, offering a path into the poem when the lyrics themselves leave space for ambiguity. They help listeners “crack” the meaning without stripping away its mystery.

That openness extends into his fascination with multiverses. Sonically, the concept appears through layers, distortion, and emotional contrast. Shoegaze already exists in a space where grief, warmth, nostalgia, and hope can all exist at once, and that duality mirrors real life. Drainyou writes from a place of loss, including losing someone he loved and losing his sister. In that headspace, reality does not feel singular. It fractures into what-ifs and alternate outcomes.

The multiverse idea allows him to express grief and hope simultaneously. Songs like “Happy Gilmore” live in that space. The film itself became a comfort zone, a place his mind could escape when things felt unbearable. The song is not about denial. It is about survival. Instead of resolving pain, his music lets pain coexist with light, balancing noise and melody in the same breath.

Dreams play a similarly powerful role in his creative process. He sees them as emotional gateways, places where buried feelings rise to the surface. In dreams, grief, longing, comfort, and peace feel real again, like brief visits to versions of life where things did not fall apart. Whether or not dreams are another dimension, they carry enough emotional truth to shape his writing. They remind him that love and warmth do not disappear just because reality changes.

When listeners enter the world of Drainyou’s music, he hopes they do it alone, unguarded, and open. For him, shoegaze and weed go hand in hand, much like alcohol and club music. It is music meant for solitude, for letting the sound take you wherever it wants. Whether that place feels grounding or disorienting matters less than the connection. Hearing someone say, “Your lyrics do something to me,” is the most meaningful outcome he can imagine.

By the time a listener reaches the end of a Drainyou project, he hopes they feel like they have traveled somewhere safe. A happy place, even if it is tinged with sadness. Relief and nostalgia existing together. His goal is to help different worlds meet in the middle, for those who feel lost and those who feel steady to find common ground. As he hints, that universe will become even clearer in November 2026.

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