Shoegaze Prodigy Quannnic Embraces Analog Sound on Gritty New Album

In August 2025, the extraordinary guitarist Quannnic released their third album Warbrained, a gritty, back-to-basics effort that marks a departure from the artist's previous digital-leaning sound. On Warbrained, Quannnic, a digicore savant who has toured with the legendary shoegaze band Slowdive, embraces analog oomph, mining the golden era of shoegaze for a more corporeal listening experience.

Quannnic's music on Warbrained is described as "groggy yet ridiculously technical, like a sleep-deprived Berklee student on a bender." This blend of technical prowess and a lo-fi, analog aesthetic stands in contrast to the artist's earlier work, which was characterized by the "cloud rock" sound—a budding vanguard that subverted shoegaze's central extremes of numbness and noise.