Music like Ethereal

Ethereal wave, also called ethereal goth or simply ethereal, is a subgenre of dark wave music and is variously described as "gothic", "romantic", and "otherworldly". Developed in the early 1980s in the UK as an outgrowth of gothic rock, ethereal wave was mainly represented by 4AD bands such as Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil, and early guitar-driven Dead Can Dance.

In the second half of the 1980s, the genre continued to develop in the United States and was primarily associated with C'est La Mort Records that featured artists such as Area (later The Moon Seven Times) and Heavenly Bodies – a band formed by ex-members of Dead Can Dance and This Mortal Coil.

Ethereal wave, especially the music of the Cocteau Twins, was one of the key inspirations for the British dreampop/shoegazing scene of the late 1980s.