Shoegaze has always been about immersion, music that doesn’t just play in the background, but swallows you whole. With his newest single, ‘eclipse’, Filip Knittl, the creative force behind Dolphin House Experiment, proves he knows exactly how to capture that sensation. Based in the Czech Republic, Knittl has been quietly carving out a sonic identity that balances grit with dreaminess, and ‘eclipse’ might be his boldest statement yet.
From the very first seconds, the track wastes no time in pulling you under. The guitars arrive like tidal waves, bending, swelling, and saturating the air with a dense wall of sound. It’s not just distortion for the sake of heaviness; there’s a deliberate layering here, a carefully sculpted chaos that creates both weight and atmosphere. Underneath, the drums hit hard and unrelentingly, with a saturated punch that gives the song a raw, grungegaze edge. Fans of Deftones, Nothing, or even My Bloody Valentine will immediately feel at home, but Dolphin House Experiment filters these influences into something unmistakably its own.
Then there are the vocals, aching, whining in their delivery, cutting through the haze. Rather than fighting with the instrumentals, they weave into it, adding another texture to the dense tapestry.
Dolphin House Experiment may still be a niche project, but tracks like ‘eclipse’ prove that Knittl is tapping into something much larger than himself. He’s channeling the timeless appeal of shoegaze and post-grunge, but doing so with a fresh, unapologetically heavy edge. In a genre that often leans into softness, his decision to embrace grit makes ‘eclipse’ stand out all the more.
For listeners already enamoured with the heavier side of shoegaze, this track will strike every nerve. But even for newcomers, ‘eclipse’ offers an accessible entry point into the genre, a perfect blend of haze, heaviness, and heart. It’s a track that demands to be played loud, to be felt physically as much as emotionally.
Written by Joshua Cotrim
