Chatham Rise are not from Kent, England, as their name suggests. Nor do they hail from Chatham Rise, which is an area of ocean floor to the east of New Zealand. In fact, they reside in Minneapolis. Please read on as Fraser McKay guest reviews the Minnesotans’ third LP, released on 25 July 2025.
Fraser McKay
Fraser has written about music for more than 30 years. First with his own fanzine Eye Sore You and then for several local newspapers across the UK. In that time, he interviewed Spiritualized, My Bloody Valentine, Nirvana, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Wedding Present, Ian Dury, Julian Cope, Belly, and The Primitives, as well as writing various album review columns. Unfortunately, none of his content is live anymore due to newspapers seemingly wiping the archives whenever they were sold off.
LP review
The UK’s shoegaze scene of the early 1990s had little impact in the US due to the grunge explosion. However, it has been enjoying a second wind recently. Standard bearers Slowdive, Ride, and My Bloody Valentine are more popular than they have ever been.
Chatham Rise are one of the more recent American bands to be inspired by those bands. They have even supported My Bloody Valentine live on the other side of the pond.
Colin Axel and compatriots craft nine new slices of mesmerising dreamscapes and melodic bass-driven spacerock.
Fraser McKay
Trillium is the group’s first album since 2018’s Meadowsweet. Bandleader Colin Axel and his compatriots have crafted nine new slices of mesmerising dreamscapes and melodic bass-driven spacerock.
Chatham Rise are not afraid of wearing their sonic influences on their sleeves. Spiritualized alumnus Mark Refoy guests on ‘Riddle Remix’ and Paula Kelley of Drop Nineteens provides vocals to give single ‘Angus Says’ a Mazzy Star feel. Tracks such as ‘Souls’ and ‘Soon’ evoke the more ethereal, cathedral of sound side of shoegaze, which Slowdive were once synonymous with.
However, ‘Here She Comes’ and ‘Splinter’ (check out video below) see the band really soar with a rockier direction that must be thrilling to see live. The former, in particular, is reminiscent of Doves during the noughties pomp.
Final thoughts
Chatham Rise continue to take the once-maligned shoegaze genre in exciting new directions.
Trillium by Chatham Rise is available at Infinite Spin Records.
