Chapterhouse were stuck between worlds for the majority of their existence in the late 80s and early 90s. They started out as a turbulent and drony psychedelic rock band akin to Spacemen 3, but quickly morphed into one of the more vaporous and distant examples of early shoegaze before moving away from distortion and into rhythm on their final album, 1993s Blood Music. Chapterhouse missed the movements surrounding each of the chapters of their stylistic evolution, remaining one of the more obscure groups to have made significant contributions to various dreamy and surreal offshoots of rock music. Chronology represents a massive deep dive into the bands history, shedding new light on the different steps of their evolution with more than 70 tracks from the groups early-90s run, with over 20 of them being previously unreleased before now. The compilation begins with songs from the bands first three EP-length singles, and documentation of their acid-damaged space rock phase with the dirgy interstellar blues of "Ecstacy II." Theres also plenty from Chapterhouses Whirlpool-era shoegaze period here, with jumpy and excitable tunes like "Breather" counterbalancing the bands moody proto-dream pop hits like "Pearl" and "Mesmerise." Their raved-up 1993 psychedelic dance rock set Blood Music is included here in its entirety, along with B-sides, rarities, and the electronic remix collection that served as auxiliary material at the time of the albums release. The biggest gift Chronology gives fans is an entire disc of mostly previously unheard demos from 1994 and 1995, when the band was at the brink of breaking up but attempting to write their third album that would never be. Home demos like the sublime and blissed-out "Let the Sunshine In" and the high-energy grooving of "Another Life" fall directly in the middle of Whirlpools dreaminess and Blood Musics danceable excitement, but the bubbly synths and percolating electronics of tracks like "We Can Fly" suggest Chapterhouse might have been on the verge of yet another big stylistic change right as they called it a day. Chronology was curated and compiled by the band themselves, and offers more than an overview of one of shoegazes most interesting, and often overlooked, groups. ~ Fred Thomas

Rovi