Another ACL first-timer, Shallowater braved the 1 p.m. heat for a magnetic hour of uniquely Southern shoegaze. The trio performed tracks off both their 2024 album, There Is a Well, and their newest collection, God’s Gonna Give You a Million Dollars. The group made their ACL debut on the large T-Mobile stage but shrunk it down to a size more suitable for them, choosing to, for the most part, face each other instead of the sizable crowd.
Part of the group’s magnetism was getting to watch each of the members groove in turn. Bassist Tristan Kelly and drummer Ryan Faulkenberry were clearly in respective flows and looked at ease despite the size of their stage. Blake Skipper on guitar and vocals alternated between gazing with heavy eyes at the crowd and keeping them pressed closed. Instead of putting on a performance, it was as though the songs pushed their way out of Skipper, a process that was almost impossible to look away from.
Perhaps aided by the menacing Sun and the fuzzy running horse graphic, the set was a desolate Southern Gothic landscape – Skipper’s surprising Southern drawl was the cherry on top. A highlight of the set was the penultimate, “Angels,” a melodic dirge about loneliness. The slow drum and bass rhythms kept time and provided a mournful backdrop to Skipper’s delicate croon.
The trio ended a bit early with the seven-minute-long “Snap,” a sentimental track rife with metaphor. The song reached its climax around the middle with a rapturous breakdown. The song is a gritty recount of a planted tree doomed to break, possibly at the will of the singer: “go on, chop down your tree for me / just for me.”
This set was one of the last in a collection of shows for the group, but they’re back in Austin this Friday, Oct. 17. Catch their show at 29th Street Ballroom with Teethe and Flooding.