Shoegaze has always been built on a handful of towering reference points. My Bloody Valentine set the genre's blueprint with 1991's 'Loveless,' Slowdive carried the sound into flowing, emotional territory on 'Souvlaki,' Ride pushed it faster and more melodic on 'Nowhere,' and the Jesus and Mary Chain laid the noise-pop groundwork the whole movement grew out of. AloneKitty, the Toronto based project of Michelle K, works from that same lineage, layering distortion-heavy walls of guitar over songs that never lose their melodic centre, closer in spirit to the genre's founders than to any of its softer modern imitators.

Engines make the loudest noise right as you flip the ignition. Animals roar their mightiest when their peace is broken. Sometimes starting over, leaving comfort, stumbling forward is the biggest noise we can make. Toronto’s AloneKitty writes like someone who rebuilt life brick by brick. Because that’s exactly what happened. After a period of intense personal upheaval - losing a job, a long-term relationship, and nearly everything that felt like home - AloneKitty was, yeah, alone. Untethered, with one lone familiar thing to hold onto. That thread became a lifeline. Then it became a record. Writing songs became a way to navigate from a before into an after. It wasn’t neat, it wasn’t clean, it never is. But it was honest. Like it or not.“I kind of think I lost my mind by playing these in front of other people as I feel re-traumatized or upset by what’s at the core of some of these.” Despite the name, AloneKitty is no longer going it alone. Stefan’s on drums, Mike’s on bass. “I never worry about them...which is great because I do everything else.”