Portland-based four-piece Kallai emerged with a distinct alt/shoegaze sound, debuting with the single Always/Never in March 2024. Their post-punk-infused follow up, Palisades, earned a spot on KEXP’s Audioasis Best of 2024 list. While performing across the Pacific Northwest, they co-founded the Dreamgaze PDX music festival, spotlighting stand-out acts like The Veldt, Dead Leaf Echo, The Asteroid No. 4, Pink Breath of Heaven, and Cool Heat. The band’s first full-length album, We Are Forever, released on Little Cloud Records in 2025. Drawing on classic shoegaze influences like Slowdive and Drop Nineteens as well as out-of-genre acts ranging from Chelsea Wolfe to Ladytron, the album earned airplay and praise from KEXP, DKFM, The Big Takeover, and Get Some Magazine among others.
“mesmerizing, airy yet commanding, like the shoegaze cousin of the band Ladytron” - Get Some Magazine
“an incredible journey between ever-changing dynamics, running between shimmering lulls and soaring crescendos” - The Big TakeOver
“reminds us of the likes of Drop Nineteens – raw, noisy old-school shoegaze, immensely cathartic and intense” - Mesmerized