Shoegaze and the question of what makes it different from just loud guitar music is something worth getting precise about.

The defining characteristic isn't volume or distortion — those are tools. The defining characteristic is the relationship between the guitar texture and the other elements. In shoegaze, the guitar is producing something closer to a timbral environment than a melodic line. You're not following the guitar the way you follow a lead — you're inhabiting it.

This is why shoegaze works so well as an emotional vehicle for certain states. The music isn't describing an experience from outside; it's creating an interior space you can occupy. The best shoegaze records feel like being inside a specific kind of weather.

The failure mode of shoegaze is when the texture is present but the interior space isn't — when you have all the sonic elements but the music doesn't create anywhere to be.