I have no shortage of fellow music nerds sending me recommendations. But perhaps no one has the shooting average of my friend Richard. Richard and I met in a vinyl group on Facebook when I was trying to sell a Sigur Rós box set. He didn’t buy it, but he recommended me the band EF. Since then, we’ve exchanged recommendations back and forth, and he has hit far more than he has missed.

The most recent hit—and what a hit it was—was the most recent album from Danish/Norwegian shoegaze outfit Meltway, Nothing is Real, as dreamy and noisy as any record this side of the early nineties has gotten.

It’s true that today, Slowdive-worship could basically be its own genre. Legions of folks have discovered the shoegaze demigods through Instagram and TikTok, leading a revival of those tones akin to the garage rock revival of the early 2000s. And just like that era saw a flood of homogeneous bands that couldn’t escape The Strokes’ shadow, the modern shoegaze scene is similarly hazy—and not just because of the aesthetic.

But from the opening strains of Nothing is Real, Meltway offers a formidable take on the formula. Glassy washes of effects-drenched guitars mingle with blooming synth pads to create expansive, glistening soundscapes. Vocals just barely break the surface as the bass and drums bring some energy borrowed from post-punk and new wave.

If that sounds like every shoegaze record I’ve ever reviewed, allow me the disclaimer that this sort of music is very difficult to quantify. Even as effervescent as shoegaze already is, there’s an It™ Factor that is either there or isn’t. Meltway has it in spades, even I can’t elegantly explain why.