What if Joji decided to enter his villain era and add heavy power chords to his music? You’d probably get the ethereal and moody nu-gaze singer-songwriter, Dolorous. 

Dolorous is an independent newcomer in the modern shoegaze revival, otherwise known as the nu-gaze movement, which has seen a meteoric rise in popularity with bands like Deftones, Loathe, Thornhill, Whirr, Split Chain, Mid Drift, Wisp and Static Dress. 

With nearly 70,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and 12,500 followers on Instagram, Dolorous has found success in the nu-gaze and shoegaze scenes with singles like “Darling,” “Violet” and “Pearl,” and his 2025 debut album, “Mercury Lake.” 

I connected with Dolorous ahead of his new single “Thorns,” set to release on September 25, to learn more about his project, journey and creative process.

“[The solo project] started about six years ago,” states Dolorous. “It was kinda random. I saw a kid I knew from high school post a rap song he had made on his Instagram story, so I hit him up and asked if I could make a song with him. He introduced me to his friend who at the time was doing production, recording and mixing in his garage, and that’s where it started.”

Despite the project’s current shoegaze identity, Dolorous began with a lo-fi alternative R&B sound heavily influenced by melancholy incarnate, George Kusunoki Miller a.k.a. Joji. “Weirdly enough, I actually started making music because of Joji,” reveals Dolorous. Miller’s 180-degree transition from his satirical shock-humor YouTuber persona, Filthy Frank, to the award-winning songwriter and artist Joji, inspired Dolorous to take the leap of faith and begin making music. “Literally the very first music I ever made was from YouTube Joji type beats.”

“I always feel as though the most recent work is my best because it’s the closest to how I feel at the moment. Each project is a little snapshot of time.”

Dolorous released his first EP, “Armageddon,” in 2022 and comprises catchy bedroom lo-fi ballads with hip-hop beats, with songs like “Punch Drunk Love” and “Deep Neural Patterning,” that soothe the heart as much as they evoke lovelorn heartache. 

Reflecting on “Armageddon,” Dolorous admits that “there’s so much” he wishes he had known to make the process easier. “I feel looking back, the project in my eyes feels very rough, but at the time I was proud of it. That’s the weird thing with making music. I always feel as though the most recent work is my best because it’s the closest to how I feel at the moment. Each project is a little snapshot of time. I think maybe I would have just taken some more time with it to flesh it out more, but I’m happy with it as its own thing.”

And much like Joji, Dolorous went through a metamorphosis during a two-year hiatus that ended in 2025 with the release of his eclectic debut album “Mercury Lake” and the singles that came with it. While it still contains some lo-fi R&B songs, the album is an inflection point in Dolorous’ evolution toward nu-gaze/shoegaze. “I really fell in love with [shoegaze music] halfway through making ‘Mercury Lake,’ and it shaped the way I ended up finishing the second half of the album,” shares Dolorous. 

To play the clean, dreamy and aggressive distortion guitar parts in “Mercury Lake,” Dolorous had to bring in some additional help. “I used to produce everything myself, but when I started making ‘Mercury Lake,’ I didn’t know how to play guitar. I had some help from my friend who also helps me to record and mix and produce songs.” Now that Dolorous has embraced this new direction for Dolorous, he’s been learning guitar for almost two years to fully produce and record the instrumentation of his newer songs, including “Crimson” and “Violet.”

Given Dolorous’ commitment to his craft, it comes as no surprise that he also does 95% of the cover artwork for his music. “One of my first creative pursuits before music was actually photography, so I’m pretty decent with a camera and a lot of my album art is photos I’ve taken.” Visual motifs in Dolorous’ artwork for his singles include flowers, angels and vast bodies of water, which often tie to the themes of his songs.

Dolorous has continued to be hard at work since “Mercury Lake,” releasing six singles in the past year with a new song on the way, titled “Thorns.” Could they be part of an upcoming album? The answer is no…for now. 

“I’ve just been enjoying the freedom of releasing singles without a project slated,” says Dolorous. “I’m using the singles to just mess around and find the next sound that I can flesh out into an entire album. But I will make another album eventually! I just don’t know when exactly it’ll happen.”

With that in mind, expect Dolorous’ sound to keep evolving. “My [musical influences] are always changing, but some that have always stuck around are The Smiths, King Krule, Deftones, Title Fight and Chet Baker,” states Dolorous. “I feel like my top artists are always some sort of variation of them. I really love jazz, rock, shoegaze and indie pop. I think I try to draw influences from all different places to make something different.”

In addition to making new music, Dolorous hopes to perform more live shows in the future with his touring band members, Carlos Lemus and Nick Grasso, who play the guitar and drums, respectively. “I can be a bit shy, introverted and anxious, so the shows can take a lot out of me. Sometimes I feel like I need to recover for a while after. But I’m trying to get out and do more shows.”

Dolorous’ most recent show was at the Hart Bar in Brooklyn on August 13, where he headlined the one-night event with two supporting guests, the nu-wave punk rock band Deadendz and the emo post-hardcore band Somewhere Not Here. “I know Deadendz through their bass player, [Samantha Michelle], since we’ve been friends for a while. And Carlos actually introduced me to [Somewhere Not Here],” says Dolorous.

Dolorous performed his most popular songs that night, including “Darling,” “Violet,” “Pearl” and “Crimson,” with many amongst the crowd singing along to Dolorous’ powerful verses and choruses. Dolorous, in his element, fed off the crowd’s energy and attacked back with deep, breathy and melodic croons, further elevated by Carlos and Nick’s kinetic performances. After the last song, the crowd demanded an encore.

If you happened to miss the show, you can view photos of Dolorous, Deadendz and Somewhere Not Here’s performances in my gallery HERE.

Dolorous’ new single, “Thorns,” releases on all music streaming platforms on Friday, September 25.