Ears ringing, sweat dripping, feet hurting—this is why we love music, folks. On July 23rd, Knitting, a slacker-grunge 4-piece by way of Montreal, took the stage at Dina’s Tavern to celebrate the release of their sophomore studio album, Souvenir.
It was a warm, dark night and a certain smell of eyes-closed power chord chugging and feedback resonance was in the air. As the all-black-clad Welted, a Toronto-based gothic shoegaze outfit, took the stage to get the night started, I could instantly tell where that sweet, sweet smell was coming from.
Kicking the night off with four tracks from their first and only album, 2025’s Smile, the group did what would’ve made any high-school football coach proud: Set. The. Tone.
The dark, gloomy, chorus and reverb-infused chugs and riffs completely filled Dina’s Tavern, and my head, with layers upon layers of sound. Acting as the musical equivalent of establishing the run, Welted’s eyes-closed, head-down approach to creating lush, dark soundscapes turned the warmly lit, beautifully furnished Dina’s Tavern into a cold parking garage stairwell and boy, was I digging it. The only thing I thought was missing was a fog machine.
What really stood out to me in this opening set was the unique use of a Fender Telecaster. The poster child guitar of blues/country music is, by no means, thought of as a typical shoegaze/slacker noise machine. Its iconic bright tones and twang added an interesting contrast to the full, warm tones of the other guitar, which elevated Welted’s set to another level.
After Welted wrapped up their 4-song set, it was time for the folks whose name was up on the marquee. Knitting took the stage in front of a nearly packed house and got right into the good stuff, playing through their most recent album, Souvenir, which was released in late June of this year.
The first thing that stood out to me, a relative outsider to the shoegaze/indie rock scene, was just how tight these musicians are. The genre’s characteristic wall of sound and purposefully muddy tones can make this easy to look past while listening to the recordings, but boy, does this stuff shine live.
Drummer Andy Mulcair kept a pocket as tight as the lights were dim, with enough exuberance and enthusiasm to go around. Lead guitarist/vocalist Mischa Dempsey took the shoe-gazing right out of shoegaze, singing with confidence and occasionally letting their glistening white and pink Fender Mustang wail. The rhythm guitarist/engineer, Sarah Harris, flourished and wasn’t afraid to get creative either, throwing in some flavourful licks. It was clear the group was having a great time up on that stage, which is always a beautiful thing to see.
The stand-out track for me has to be the hard-hitting, aptly raw “I Wasn’t Fully Cooked,” a sentiment shared by the band themselves. The show was full of catchy riffs and smart, introspective writing, but this track takes all of this to the nth degree. The whole album, from “I Want to Remember Everything,” an earworm full of icy passion, to the moody, gloomy “Sequel,” and everything in between, was just a pleasure to hear.
Knitting stands out as a group that wears their grunge and shoegaze influences on their sleeve, but takes this and creates something truly unique and personal, as all great musicians have done. I am excited to see what else they have up their Carhartt flannel sleeves and where this road takes them next.