Shoegaze group Mood Bored spirals in saturated new single “Wet Faced & Ugly”

Consisting of bandmates Myrte Driesenaar, Daan Stuyven, and Timo de Wit, Dutch shoegaze group Mood Bored has already played to sold-out audiences across the UK. Whilst they’re relatively underground to the rest of the world today, we don’t expect them to stay there for long, especially with the release of dynamic new singles like “Wet Faced & Ugly”.

In the track, soft strums of a guitar surround Driesenaar’s light vocal lines that spill into the song like soft rain on flowers. The tender atmosphere of the song matches Driesenaar’s tone as she desperately sings of yearning for love, even if she feels undeserving. Even if she doesn’t know how to ask for it. Distorted guitars come into play as the track begins to spiral, twisting the song from a fragile ballad into a hazy dream of gritty guitars and layered, abrasive harmonies. It all frames Driesenaar’s vulnerable lyrics that pierce the skin like a knife.

“'Wet Faced & Ugly' is one of our favourite new songs," the band share. "We poured our hearts into this both musically and lyrically. It’s small, it’s explosive, It sounds exactly like our brains. We feel like this song was kind of a turning point for all our new songs, we found a new kind of way to write and to feel the music."

They continue, "When we were making the song, for the first time maybe ever, every single choice felt like the right one immediately. Everything fell in its place very quickly, and we really feel that within the song. It all was inspired by when Myrte was walking into her apartment complex and saw a baby in a buggy crying bloody murder with its arms stretched out to mom and wanting and needing so badly to be picked up. And she thought, how beautiful to be so desperately needy and helpless, ‘I feel like that too sometimes.’ And so “Wet Faced & Ugly” was born.”

The single is a dreamy soundscape of stellar production, compelling instrumentation, and lyrics so haunting they scar. Wrestling with feelings of hope and self-loathing, it’s a testament to Mood Bored’s dedication to honesty. With a sound akin to rock groups like shower curtain and Cryogeyser, or the shoegaze sentimentalities of Soccer Mommy and Wolf Alice (who the band has supported in the past), Mood Bored should be considered a rising voice in the indie scene worth watching.