Ah the cycles of music.

Not so long ago, the ambient shoegaze of My Bloody Valentine and Jesus And Mary Chain seemed as dated as grunge or psychofunk.

These days, though, an army of noise pop bands are churning out truckloads of moody, reverb-soaked rock and My Bloody Valentine is on the brink of officially reuniting (Jun 20 at London’s Roundhouse.)

Los Angeles-by-way-of-San Francisco band Film School is among a handful of bands that does it right, expertly layering ambient vocals and guitar noise over muscular tempos. They’ll play the Bluebird this Tuesday as part of a tour that includes festival stops at Siren, Wicker Park, Forecastle and Lightbright.

The bands last album, “Hideout,” was released by Beggars Banquet last September.

I spoke with singer and co-founder Greg Bertens (above) yesterday as he prepared to depart for the long tour.

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RC: Have you played St. Louis?
GB: This will be our first time in St. Louis. I’m excited because I hear great things about it whenever I mention that we’re stopping there.

RC: Did you move to L.A. for music business purposes?

GB: Everyone thinks that, but I didn’t even think about that when I moved. My girlfriend lived down here, so I came down and started a new lineup. I live on the East Side, which is not so bad. There are a bunch of artists and generally cool people. There are some great bands here that are changing the face of L.A. When people think of L.A. music, they sometimes think of hair metal and weird 80s stuff, but it’s so different now.

RC: Who influenced your sound?

GB: Mainly sonic bands of late 80s and early 90s, from Slowdive, Flying Saucer Attack, My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Swervedriver. Our West Coast tour with (Swervedriver) was amazing. They’re just an amazing band and they’re playing so well. They’re really great guys and so inspirational.

RC: What is the key to making noise rock — and making it sound good?

GB: To me, it’s about tasteful layering. You kind of have to go at it almost like an orchestra would. We don’t write all of the parts at once. We build on each part. Sometimes I compare distorted reverb to water. Sometimes you can channel water where you want it to go, but sometimes it gets out of control. You have to be careful not to do to much with any one instrument. Each has to carve out its own place tonally. Everything can’t be in the middle range or everything just gets lost.

(Photo by Aerin)