male//gaze – TOO LATE NOW (EP)
Release Date: 28th November 2025
Label: Self Released
Bandcamp
Genre: Extreme Pop, Shoegaze, Hardcore, Hyperpop, Synth Pop.
FFO: Adventures, Enter Shikari, Nowhere.
Review By: Ross Bowie
male//gaze are back with their signature brand of extreme pop, and there isn’t a better way of describing the sound this pacific northwest 5 piece make. The band seamlessly blend shoegaze with delicate pads and lead work, but then attack the songs like animal from The Muppets and can only hold it for so long before having to add blasts and up the tempo with raw punk energy.
Too Late Now opens with a beautiful intro track filled with piano and soaking-wet reverbed vocals. It’s a sombre and delicate beginning before opening itself up with layers and layers of vocals and electronic pads, and before you know it you’re all encompassed by the sound radiating out of your speakers. This really sets you up for all the experiments the band have waiting for you behind the curtain and offers the perfect start to the 6 tracks.
It would be impossible not to have a smile on your face as Too Late Now bursts into life on Get Well. An extremely vibrant intro bursting with colour and a calm yet focused shoegaze style vocal sitting in the middle of everything like the net of a tennis court connecting the whole thing together. But, this band aren’t afraid to rip, layering the harsh vocal over the chorus is the beginning of the band showing you the razor edge they’re not scared to cut you with any time they deem necessary.
When Male//Gaze want to go they can really go, they’re channelling some old-school Enter Shikari on Slaymaxxing which is the EP’s shortest track and just serves as a raw burst of punk energy and if you doubted that this expansive and floaty shoegaze EP was made by hardcore kids then those doubts are met with a swift spin-kick to the jaw. The screamed vocals, pummelling drums and relentless while the track before serves up deep bass electronics for its main melodic hook and halfway through turns into a full-on hyperpop dance party. This is before returning to the more chilled vibe that started this whole journey off on the next track, where the themes of grief and jealousy are at their strongest. We might not have Adventures anymore, but this is as damn close as we’re going to get.
This is before Too Late Now, draws to its triumphant close, a song that sounds like a montage of friends running down the school corridor one final time before walking out the door to the rest of their lives. The vibes are through the roof on this one as the band utilise every trick, they’ve shown all together to make one final statement, a statement of hope and acceptance and although things might not be great right now, you’re never far away from turning that all around. male//gaze only have one full length under their belt, but if they’re able to carry this form onto their follow-up, then this is a name we will surely be hearing about again.
(4.5 / 5)
