South Korea’s CULTGAZER continues to redefine the boundaries between dream and distortion on their latest EP, Prototype. This record glides effortlessly through shoegaze, ambient, and experimental soundscapes, crafting an immersive listening experience that feels both intimate and vast — like drifting through a half-remembered dream. With reverb-soaked guitars, deep, resonant basslines, and ghostly vocals, Prototype is a delicate balance of fragility and power, beauty and tension.
The EP opens with “Birdcage,” immediately setting the tone with a floaty, atmospheric soundscape. Tight drumming and deep bass create a sense of weightless motion, while the interplay between male and female vocals weaves through dreamy guitars and soft synth textures. As the track expands into a lush ambient haze, the listener is introduced to the emotional core of the record — a perfect blend of shoegaze shimmer and subtle tension.
“ED” follows, diving into darker textures and a more unsettling pulse. Eerie, siren-like tones and distorted female vocals haunt the mix, while the dialogue between the two singers adds a living tension — a dynamic interplay of comfort and chaos. CULTGAZER demonstrate a remarkable ability to craft large, atmospheric moments without losing control, creating a track that feels alive and immersive.
With “Nurf,” the band leans fully into their experimental instincts. Washed-out synths and glitchy, robotic vocal effects give the track a hypnotic, disorienting quality, as if the sound itself is constantly dissolving and reforming. It’s one of the EP’s most daring moments, balancing strangeness and beauty with a sonic palette that shoegaze fans will recognize, but filtered through CULTGAZER’s modern, inventive lens.
“Mido” strips the sound down, opening with distant female vocals and sparse instrumentation before swelling into grunge-tinged riffs and distorted male harmonies. The track carries a heavy emotional core — sadness, guilt, and eventual release — each lyric and note meticulously placed. It is arguably the most raw and emotionally resonant track on the EP, lingering in the listener’s mind long after the music ends.
Closing track “Pigeon” brings the journey full circle, blending washed-out vocals, driving drums, and shimmering guitars into a climactic finale. Airy female vocals lift the song to a heavenly peak, while dynamic shifts between soft ambience and powerful release showcase everything CULTGAZER does best: merging delicacy with intensity, fragility with force, and distortion with clarity.
Taken as a whole, Prototype is a journey through atmosphere and emotion. CULTGAZER channel the spirit of shoegaze pioneers like Slowdive, Cocteau Twins, and Nothing, but filter it through a uniquely Korean underground lens — melancholic, experimental, and endlessly captivating. This EP doesn’t just ask to be heard; it demands to be felt. By the final note, listeners are suspended in that rare space between heartbreak and serenity, where noise becomes memory and distortion becomes beauty.
NOTABLE TRACKS:
Birdcage
Mido