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31 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A droning cacophony of lush harmonium..., 15 Jul 2004
Though they haven't released anything in over a decade, My Bloody Valentine remain one of THE most important and groundbreaking bands to emerge from the whole shoe-gazing, space-rock (whatever you wann'a call it!) scene, that really took off during the mid-to-late 1980's. This was a time when bands such as Sonic Youth, Spacemen 3, Dinosaur Jr, the Jesus & Mary Chain, and the Pixies first appeared with the notion of fusing late-sixties psychedelic experimentation with post-punk noise, to create a sound that *could* be described as guitar-rock, but, at the same time, had a sound that seemed a million miles away from other 80's guitar acts, like the Smiths, the Go Between and Felt.The template for this kind of angular noise-rock had already been set with the Marry Chain's classic Psychocady in 1985 (and, to a lesser extent, the first Sonic Youth album), with MBV quick to respond and advance on that sound with their own career-year-zero, Isn't Anything (1988)... With that album, guitarist/songwriter/vocalist Kevin Shields emerged as the band's nucleus, steering MBV away from the twee, indie-pop sound that their early EP's seemed to be suggesting, with the band, on the whole, setting the precedent for ambient white noise and swathes of industrial feedback. So, whereas the first album seemed to be rooted very much in the experimental category, Loveless would instead take the concept of feedback and severe noise and anchor it with a sense of structure, harmony, and, an intense & beautiful approach to atmosphere. The notion that Shields was trying to express was the combination of the aforementioned musical styles, largely inspired by guitarists like Hendrix and (early) Jimmy Paige, with the free-form approach to sound-textures that were becoming more apparent through the rise of acid-house. As a result of this, Loveless has a seesawing sound that is both loved up (like acid house) and threatening (like post-punk)... giving the listener an idea of what it must be like to take ecstasy whilst simultaneously dropping acid (...not to mention, falling down Alice's rabbit hole, into wonderland!). This whole concept is most apparent in the opening track, Only Shallow, which suggests a multitude of aural possibilities, as well as featuring as one of the greatest album introductions of all time. Here, Shields lays down a swirling, pulsating guitar melody, which dances ethereally from one speaker to the other, as Belinda Butcher's haunted vocals fuse with the background instrumentation. The sound that is created here is best described as alien-white-noise... a sound that continues right through the record, giving it a sense of cohesion that few albums can equate. The vocals are sterling throughout, alternating between the feminine coos of Butcher and the hushed-mumbles of Shields, sometimes between tracks, sometime within the same track, whilst bringing to mind people like Malcolm Mooney, Mark Hollis and Thom Yorke (around the time of Kid A/mnesiac), as well as creating a dreamlike grace that is, at times, reminiscent of the very best of the Cocteau Twins (albums like Victorialand, Treasure and so on). Track two, Loomer, advances on this sound, again fusing the vocals of Butcher & Shields against harsh distortions & distant drums (one complaint: why are Colm O'Ciosoig's drums buried so far in the mix?), before track three, an instrumental piece composed by O'Ciosoig, takes the album into forbidden realms of the surreal... complete with strange loops, treatments and samples; which creates a piece of music that sounds like someone being trampled by a herd of stampeding elephants. From here the album lulls out, and Shields begins to take more control over the sound, giving us tons of that dense guitar work and some heavenly vocals (...though I don't have a clue what he's singing about). As a result of this, When You Sleep, I Only Said, Sometimes and the closing number, Soon, remain amongst my favourite songs of the decade, with Shields and the rest of the band (including some great treated bass from Debbie Googe) creating a series of blissed-out songs that are meant to wash over the listener, whilst simultaneously offering a disturbed and disconcerting experience. This is rock music as it should be done: dense without being pretentious; experimental, though played to perfection... whilst the atmosphere that the band create is just unbelievable. It was the discovery of this band, and tracks like the ones noted above, that really turned me off bands like the Smashing Pumpkins, with My Bloody Valentine proving just how obsolete Billy Corgan's six-form navel-gazing was, by the time that particular band achieved what they believed to be perfection. Shields had proved that acid-house and guitar rock could easily be combined to create a strange and dislocating texture to lift the music beyond the realms of the top-40, and was even capable of conveying emotion without relying on the usual song-writing clichés. As his contributions to last year's Lost in Translation soundtrack ably demonstrated, Shields can still create those buzzing, dreamlike sound-scapes from the comfort of his secluded country-retreat, far better than the likes of Mogwai, Mum, Sigur Ros, and GSYBE! Could this be a sign of new MBV material appearing sometime in the near future? Let's hope so.
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