Dead Leaf Echo just launched a U.S. tour on the back of their album Beyond.Desire, via Papercup Music, which will be released October 13, 2017.  New Orleans was the first stop on their three-month tour, so they were high energy, outfitted with complementing black and white patterned shirts.
New York-based trio, self-described as a music and art collective, has toured alongside Chapterhouse and Ringo Deathstarr, two groups that frequent The Slumber Party’s track lists. Dead Leaf Echo is a “nouveau wave” shoegaze group; they are experimental, innovative and dynamic in their approach to shoegaze. 
According to the band’s website, the artwork of the album is essential to understanding the band’s music. There is some truth in that token statement; aesthetic was a significant aspect of their show, but for me, it cheapened the experience. The bassist used a foot pedal to trigger a smoke machine, and frontman and songwriter LG had psychedelic patterns projected onto his face during the set.
Dead Leaf Echo’s sound is less about thinking, more about feeling. They are great at shifting from shimmering tones to never-ending loops before you can even realize what is happening. At this show I blissed out and nearly exploded simultaneously.
I cannot write this review without mentioning that the first band, Norco Lapalco, stole the freaking show. A female drummer, a soccer mom guitarist, an overgrown-kid bassist, and a solo guitarist and vocalist who just never grew up, all above the age of thirty-five, make punk rock music that meets progressive math rock. These guys did not care at all, and it was exhilarating. If you have the opportunity, see them live.
Dead Leaf Echo’s deput LP from 2013, Thought and Language, is an intense record and requires patience.  It’s a snapshot of ordered chaos, laid out as an expansive, hour-long journey. Your patience is rewarded with hints of 80s synth pop: Depeche Mode meets Lush thanks to the mixing of John Fryer. I am interested for the release of Beyond.Desire, to compare the mixing of John Fryer with the work of Guy Fixsen, legendary shoegaze engineer of My Bloody Valentine.
All in all, the band might be more talk (and hiding in the pedal work) than actual skill. There is a lot of potential in experimental shoegaze, and while Dead Leaf Echo has all the right influences, their technical skill and taste are absent.