Dreampop
2017
Note: This review is an excerpt from Issue #3 of my music zine, GLIDER
Nearly a quarter-century after Pygmalion, Slowdive returned with a self-titled record that shot up everyone’s album-of-the-year lists posthaste. And why shouldn’t it have? The band are in fantastic form here, which shouldn’t come as a surprise as they had been touring regularly since 2014.
The record is polished, pensive and pristine – a masterful amalgamation of their experiences across their various post-Slowdive projects. “No Longer Making Time” has that heavenly guitar wash that will feel instantly familiar for fans of their original sound. “Don’t Know Why” is tops as well, featuring Goswell’s falsetto seamlessly meshing with Halstead’s guitars, which blast off into a gorgeously orchestrated wall of sound during the chorus.
A lot has been said (elsewhere) about the way Slowdive makes you feel. Being half-awake in a warm bed with the first orange rays of the sun peeking through the windows. Feeling the cool breeze on a rainy day after a heatwave. And many other mostly nauseating, ham-fisted descriptions of experiencing some kind of romantic infatuation.
But at GLIDER, that’s not what Slowdive feels like. As much as our dear patrons revere My Bloody Valentine, it was Slowdive that the hoi polloi could wrap their heads around. Their reputation was perhaps on the line more than Shields and Co., who are expected to release their next record shortly after the first human settlement on Mars.
Because of that, Slowdive feels like a tidal wave of relief, to know that the material is solid and that their legacy is safe. Far from being a hollow cash grab in the wake of M B V ‘s surprise release (and the subsequent reunions of Ride and Swervedriver), this is an album that puts them in the driving seat of dream pop once more.
