Bringing Shoegaze to Boston: A Conversation with corporeal
corporeal [sic], a shoegaze band at Boston University, is expanding the Boston music scene with their experimental, distorted sound.
The band, made up of four BU students, has played numerous shows around Boston since their formation early last year. Sam Dvorin plays guitar, Nora Bergman does electronics and keys, Emma DeLaRosa plays bass, and Selena Zheng is on the drums and guitar. In addition, all members of the band supplement their vocals. The band attributes much of their success to their collaboration: no single member does just one thing.
DeLaRosa and Dvorin; image courtesy of Sam Schofield.
Dvorin and Bergman started off as a duo before building into a larger band. The pair bonded over their love for shoegaze classic Duster during their sophomore year. They faced their share of twists and turns (a bass player dropping out and a few other bumps) before recruiting Zheng and DeLaRosa, both picking up their respective instruments to join.
The band says their genre is somewhat undefinable, being under the “shoegaze umbrella,” but also exploring subgenres like slow core and dream pop.
In terms of where the band draws inspiration from, Duster is obviously a frontrunner. However, other notable shoegaze bands like Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine and Drop Nineteens have also been influential to their music. This ambient, moody sound can be heard in corporeal’s recent EP “echo chamber,” composed of four instrumental songs. Other local Boston ensembles have also had an impact on their sound; Bergman says her boyfriend’s hardcore band FRAUD will have an influence on their upcoming album, which is likely to be released in early 2023. This new album will incorporate a “harder bass sound with more of an ethereal atmosphere,” Bergman says.
DeLaRosa says hearing “really cool lyricism” in any given genre has had a significant impact on her songwriting. The band explained that their personal musical interests vary across many genres and is not always reflective of their own musical sound, but still has had an impact on their writing.
Bergman; image courtesy of Sofi Janssen.
Dvorin attributes much of his guitar style to bands like the Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth and, most notably, the Strokes. The band joked around, saying Dvorin was a member of the Strokes in another lifetime. “I also really like bands where the singing is sort of ethereal and you can’t really understand what’s going on,” Dvorin says.
One of their favorite things about their creative process is how collaborative it is. “Everything is touched by everyone,” says Dvorin. As a project progresses, the bandmates like to see how the individual influences of each member blend together to create a fully fleshed out song. Often dropping random ideas in their band’s group chat, they collaborate to put different elements together in a comprehensible way. Seeing each band member pull their own distinct style into each song only adds to their unique sound.
The group has curated a distinctive aesthetic, getting help from friends and other connections to help them with album art, photoshoots, house show photography, and posters. They source visual media from art classes they have taken and other visual artists they’re close with. “We have a lot of friends who understand who we are as a band, and I feel like they do a really good job of capturing what we do,” says Bergman.
Though the band has a somewhat slow and airy sound on their records, they say their live shows often become super fun and distorted, different from the vibe seen on their tracks. The group talks about how much they change their sound at shows with only a few pedals– instruments blow out, voices get louder, and the band breaks out of their slowcore, ambient bubble. Dvorin says almost every venue they’ve played in Boston has asked them to turn their music down.
Bergman says bringing new friends into the DIY scene is one of her favorite parts of being a performer. “Whenever I bring people that have never been to a show before, I always tell them to wear the outfit they're afraid of wearing anywhere else because I feel like, in general, the people that are part of [this] scene are the least judgmental. Everyone's kind of experimenting. I find it really refreshing to try stuff without feeling judged or anything,” she says.
Bergman and DeLaRosa both made note of the thrill they get from picking out their most unique outfits for shows. They say if there’s any place to go all out, it’s at a house show.
DeLaRosa and Zheng; image courtesy of Camilla Atalla.
Dvorin also states that he likes how the band inadvertently arrives at shows looking like a real band. “I like the fact that when we pull up to a show, we don't look like just random people, you know?” The band always looks like an ensemble, wearing outfits that match the vibe of their music.
Dvorin has been involved with other Boston-based bands and attributes the DIY scene’s welcoming nature to how intertwined it is. corporeal shouted out a few of their favorite Boston bands like Exit 18 and going222jail, and other shoegaze groups they played with at Monkey Palace in Allston a few weekends ago. These band’s budding experimental sound is expanding the underground scene here in Boston, which corporeal says is mostly made up of garage and indie music.
With their unique sound constantly progressing, corporeal is carving their way into the local music scene. While they say they have always felt supported and accepted by the music community here in Boston, they aim to expand outward in the near future, hopefully playing shows in cities like Providence and Lowell.
corporeal’s upcoming album pulls influence from their older work. This will be their first full album as an established band, and the first album that features DeLaRosa on bass. The ensemble looks forward to seeing their upcoming project come to fruition. They pride themselves on not releasing music until they are sure it’s ready. “It’s easy to make it seem like a job after a while, but keeping [our process] among friends and making sure everyone’s happy is most important,” says Bergman. Their close bond has allowed them to do their best work, both on and off the stage.
“I can speak for all of us in saying that the album is super exciting– and we're exploring a bunch of new textures and just experimenting with our sound,” says Bergman.
Look out for corporeal in upcoming Boston shows and for their album early next year.