B-Side Guys

Seattle-based Fotoform continues their evolution on “This City is Over,” a crystalline shoegaze anthem that serves as both personal manifesto and universal wake-up call. The track, featured on their third album “Grief is a Garden (Forever in Bloom),” finds the band pushing beyond the atmospheric territories of their previous work into more emotionally direct terrain.

Kim House’s vocals float above layers of reverb-drenched guitars and propulsive rhythms, creating the tension between ethereal beauty and emotional urgency that has become the band’s hallmark. When she sings about being “numbed and drained by the daily grind,” her delivery transforms personal exhaustion into collective experience. The title metaphor works brilliantly on multiple levels—representing both literal urban environments sacrificing quality of life for profit and the broader systems of capitalism that reduce existence to transaction.

Musically, the track builds on Fotoform’s established sound while introducing new textural elements. The production balances dream pop haziness with post-punk clarity, allowing each instrumental voice space within the mix. Michael Schorr’s drumming (formerly of Death Cab for Cutie) provides a solid foundation that prevents the shoegaze elements from dissolving into pure atmosphere, while Geoffrey Cox’s guitar work creates the sonic architecture through which House’s melodies navigate.

What gives “This City is Over” its particular resonance is how it transmutes disillusionment into possibility. Rather than merely documenting urban alienation, the song pivots toward inner truth-seeking, suggesting that even without physically escaping our environments, we can escape their psychological hold. The call to “follow the truth inside your soul” becomes not just individual advice but collective imperative.

As the lead single from an album exploring themes of loss and transformation, “This City is Over” demonstrates Fotoform’s gift for creating music that’s simultaneously introspective and outward-looking—crafting dreamscapes that never lose sight of the ground beneath our feet.