The Bay Area certainly has no shortage of shoegaze devotees — you know, the ones that cite the usual suspects My Bloody Valentine, Ride, and Spacemen 3 as influences. So why pay money to see Portland’s the High Violets? For starters, singer Kaitlyn ni Donovan’s petal-soft voice floats above waves of guitar fuzz on the band’s latest release To Where You Are. The songs are thoughtfully crafted (the album took three years to create) and full of subtle pop hooks (check out the Dandy Warhols-ish rock of “Sun Baby”), earning them well-deserved praise and the award of Best Indie CD of 2006 by UK music portal SkidMark. The High Violets play with Hardy Harr and Whalebones on Thursday, April 19 at the Stork Club. 9 p.m. $5, StorkClubOakland.com
FOLLOW US
