You might dig No Joy, Lush, Cindy Lee, the Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine

What the hell is shoegaze, anyway?

Ask four different people and you'll get four different answers, but the term first started to get thrown at bands as an insult around the late 80s in the UK because guitarists in certain alternative bands would be using so many different effects during their performances they'd spend the whole show staring at their pedalboards (I think a review of a My Bloody Valentine show in particular is where the term got coined)

Don't mistake my silence for negligence, y'all; keep the recommendations going and I'll give them all a listen eventually.

This is what you are looking for: Cocteau Twins. https://open.spotify.com/track/37pKTyMwalomKCZjxTc2QZ?si=0x_orrZwSxGuv_mXM2uNCg Enjoy!

Hey thanks for the suggestion! I really dig that song!

I think TTRRUUCES - Sensations of Cool (youtube links incoming) hits this prompt pretty perfectly, especially the dream-like quality of the video

Same for Jon Worthy - Please Tell Me

A few more that are close but not quite perfect:

TTRRUUCES - TTRRUUCES

Hiatus Kaiyote - Red Room

Hiatus Kaiyote - And We Go Gentle

Robotaki - All I Can Do

I'm looking forward to listening to the other suggestions, I've listened to a few of them and so far they've been great!

If you don't have a particular need for lyrics, or lyrics that you can understand (presumably), I've got a few for you.

Nyokabi Kariũki - Nazama | (Bandcamp) > YT Link

Aivi & Surasshu - Mika | (Bandcamp) > YT Link

The following is a very short performance for a promotional video for the Lumatone keyboard, but I have it saved in my playlist because of how beautiful it is.

Lumatone performance (YT Link)

I think it demonstrates the vastness of the musical realm by splitting the notes we typically associate with western music into different (and often more numerous) divisions of the octave. One of the best applications of this besides getting that ethereal feeling is that it allows you to explore intervals to a finer degree i.e. achieve cleaner melodic and harmonic tones that are mathematically pleasing to the human ear and mind. This whole concept is called microtonality if anyone is interested. And to your question, OP, I think searching in this area can help you find some of that cosmic, alternative sound you're looking for.

I know I got a little bit away from the question here, but getting into the microtonal/xenharmonic realm was so magical for me because while I enjoy your typical music theory teachings, I'm very much on the more scientific side of things, and music has always been that intriguing intersection between the indiscriminate and cosmic nature of mathematics and the emotional and beautifully flawed nature of artistic expression. Finding the community and literature around xenharmonic music helped me find my way of exploring music in a way that comes naturally to me.

Edit: One that's a little more "energetic" that I always get lost in. The entire album is great, but this track in particular - Homestuck: Medium - Frogs (YT Link)

“Reckoner” - Radiohead
“Walking in My Shoes” - Depeche Mode
“Bloodbuzz Ohio” - The National
“Black” - Pearl Jam
“Glory Box” - Portishead
“Unfinished Sympathy” - Massive Attack

Jenny Lewis — "Head Underwater"

Cordelia's Dad — "Little Speckled Egg"

Cracker — "Guarded by Monkeys"

Freelance Whales — "Generator ^ First Floor"

Minus the Bear — "Let's Play Guitar in a Five Guitar Band"

You're gonna share the playlist when you're done, right?

This one might be too mainstream, but:

Iron & Wine — "Woman King"

AIR - Moon safari

How about some Beach House?

Air is an excellent band that seems to fit your bill and if you don't mind a darker dream there's always the OG of shoegaze Portishead.

I have strong music association with memories so most of my feelie invoking music is pretty fucking random (like associating wanderlust with Beck's Guero).

Cults - Always Forever

The Cure - Pictures of You

Some type of skin by AURORA.

Not totally sure it fits your description, but it's hella intense and I love it.

My brother in christ, you need some Hatchie.

Hatchie - Rooftops

Hatchie - Giving the World Away

Lay low. Tiesto

Wild Nothing - nocturne

Some of the guitar work reminds me of Ratatat.

You might also like Washed Out.

Songs that make you have flashbacks of things you never experienced.

There are all kinds of bands that do that for me. The first two that come to mind are Explosions in the Sky and The Midnight.

Also there's a recently invented word for that feeling:

Anemoia - n. Nostalgia for a time or a place one has never known.

Might be to electronica for your tastes but try Tycho's Dive and awake albums

The drums - portamento

I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier but here I made a Spotify collaboration list! The only rules are 1) don't remove somebody else's song and 2) don't spam-add songs.

Ten Thousand Years Won't Save Your Life by the band Hammock is like this, I wouldn't call it alternative, but wow, it opens up, takes you on a trip, gently sets you down.

Rapture by Iio.

Your description made me think of The Golden Palominos.

Caring is Creepy by The Shins

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1p3DNAi9fsqSXNeU0bbi44?si=348d01813fb942c0

Big shoegaze fan here. Give decayfm.com a listen. I didn’t see Slowdive mentioned but you should give them a listen.

I have a playlist called Kodak Daydreams that be what you're looking for. It's mostly dreampop and shoegaze

Parannoul - Beautiful World. If you like it, check out his albums, especially To See the Next Part of the Dream and After the Magic

Dream-like and energetic? Try Boris - Melody and their whole Noise album.

Not sure if this will be what you're after, but the first thing that reminded me of is Goodbye by Apparat (although that's a bit slower than the tune you linked).

Wow Shelther of My Love is so good how does this band have less than 1000 spotify listeners?

I tried to find stuff from my playlists that were similar, I found some that match the sound and some that match the description but none that match both. Here are a few of my suggestions:

Moaning Lisa Smile by Wolf Alice

Heatwaves by Glass Animals

begin again by Purity Ring

I Hope to Be Around by Men I Trust

I concur with those Beach House suggestions and add maybe EMA, Slowdive and possibly Cocteau Twins and Piano Magic. Maybe even the work of Brian Eno in Another Green World?

Oh, and by the way, "shoegaze" is nothing more than a journalistic name to group all bands in the popular musical scene that made a heavy use of pedals to distort or generally modify their guitar sound. They spent so much time watching at their pedals in contrast of earlier guitar players, that they looked like they were gazing at their shoes.