Remember when My Bloody Valentine followed Loveless with a mediocre, watered-down stab at mainstream appeal produced by, say, Butch Vigg? Yeah, neither do I—but if it existed, I imagine that album sounding a bit like The Sleepover Disaster. Hover, the California trio’s third full-length in over a decade, comes out in 2009, yet its heart remains firmly in 1992: noisy shoegazer moping married to grand, swelling choruses, a combination as solidly consistent as it is unremarkable. On tracks like “Friend” and “Code Breaker”, the atmospheric wall of guitar noise—a trademark for this band—is both colossal and somehow domesticated, triumphed by songwriter Luke Giffen’s anthemic, pop sensibilities. Ultimately Hover resembles just about every indistinguishable opening act you’ve ever enjoyed—until, that is, each song reveals itself as quite like the last.

• Multiple songs MySpace