For me, two of them are Glitter by Pasteboard and The Now Now and Never by What is your name? They're both in my top 3 shoegaze albums （another one is Loveless). Unlike some shoegaze albums that just "fun to listen" to me these 2 albums evoke too many complex emotions of me. 

First, The Now Now and Never. It basically encapsulates and stirs everything inherent in the concept of 'the end of youth': the ineffable restlessness and sense of loss within vibrant summer seasons, the pain of breaking free during formative years—like emerging from a chrysalis, the unavoidable vulnerability and melancholy, dreamlike yet bittersweet memories and a longing for what's past that are almost too painful to revisit, and a tender, yet resolute farewell.

I'm still surprised that WIYN as a new-growing band are so much more being unrecognised compared to bands like Parannoul. As an East Asian I honestly don't feel anything for Parannoul. I even think they just cater to some "Oriental emotion fantasy" for a Western white man audience.

Glitter is an album I've been listening to since I was 18. It's probably got the softest, most listenable melodies and the cleanest, most refreshing guitars I've ever heard. If you could somehow record the summer sunshine from when I was 18, the laughter and conversations while riding bikes with friends, feeling the riding breeze and a cold beer can with your first love in a hot, long summer vacation, it would probably sound exactly like this album. It just holds so many vivid memories of my youth, along with that inevitable bittersweet feeling when something beautiful comes to an end.

As a guy who grew up in an East Asian environment, and someone who eventually broke free from my old life and familiar surroundings to move to a completely different part of the Western world, but at the same time still has this complex mix of nostalgia and deep attachment for what I used to know, these albums just fit, with everything that's led to who I am now. I can enjoy, “understand”, and be completely immersed in them.


What are some (relatively) unknown albums that carry your countless life memories and personal emotions?