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Despite being lumped in with the early 90s shoegazing scene that’s inspired the likes of M83, Maps and Serena Maneesh, Slowdive were always a little different to their contemporaries. While Ride and Chapterhouse were wont to immerse their music in an ethereal wall of sound, Slowdive favoured a polite narcotic haze, soothing rather than battering the brain into passive submission. 1995’s Pygmalion saw them travel furthest but was also their least commercially successful album – partially due to a fierce press backlash against the band, but mainly because label Creation was far more focussed on new signings Oasis. The Manchester band’s debut album, Definitely Maybe, bore the next CD catalogue number on from Pygmalion.
Reissued alongside their first two full lengths – 1991’s dreamy Cocteau Twins-esque Just for a Day and 1993’s ‘difficult’ second, Souvlaki, which hinted at more abstract experimentations sadly reined in by label boss Alan McGee – Pygmalion has more in common with the emerging electronic scene than the Britpop sound that was by now sidelining grunge. Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell had begun to experiment with digital technology, something no doubt encouraged by collaboration with Brian Eno on two of Souvlaki’s tracks. But rather than claiming – as many did in the early 90s – that there had always been a dance element to their music, using this as an excuse to awkwardly layer a breakbeat beneath their standard indie fare, Slowdive were more interested in the ambient end of the spectrum: Cello, frankly, could be an excerpt from one of Eno’s mid 70s releases like Discreet Music.
Much of Pygmalion therefore bears more relation to Global Communication’s classic 76:14, released a year earlier. On Trellisaze they allow a clock to tick out the beat – much as Global Communication had on 14 31 (Ob-selon Mi-Nos) – while disembodied, treated voices waft amidst a vapour trail of guitars. On opener Rutti, Halstead’s vocal follows a sparse trail of chords for three minutes before more familiar crystalline guitar lines embellish its meditative mood, and on Crazy for You a simple melody is refracted through a cloud of effects. It’s still shoegazing, but not as we know it, and sometimes they dispense with percussion entirely: the ghostly Miranda, the angelic Visions of La and the elegiac All of Us have more in common with folk.
Dropped by a Gallagher-fixated McGee shortly after this record’s release, Slowdive morphed soon afterwards into Mojave 3. But it’s the soft-focus mist of Pygmalion that remains Halstead and Goswell’s masterpiece.
--Wyndham WallaceFind more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Product Description
(2CD) 2010 reissue of 1993 album from seminal UK shoegazers fronted by Neil Halstead,later of Mojave 3! Includes 12 track bonus disc of demos & rarities.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
For their final album Slowdive show themselves to be far more diverse than their indie rock contemporaries. Each of Slowdive's albums are unique and very different from one another: Just For A Day was a classic dream-pop album, that leans towards The Cure's Disintegration and the gentler side of the Cocteau Twins. Souvlaki was a more focused indie rock album, which showed the band to be stronger songwriters than any of their contemporaries in the shoegaze scene, as well as more being more experimental: the album had strong dub and ambient leanings, including a collaboration with Brian Eno on two tracks. Finally Pygmalion, the band's last album, shows Slowdive moving entirely beyond the conventions of dream pop and shoegaze and fully embracing ambient music and influences from contemporary electronic music.
Neil Halstead used delay and reverb to create an effect not unlike that of a sustain pedal on a piano. He coated the vocals with these effects to sustain each individual note so that they clash with adjacent melody notes to create a similar effect to a cluster chord, but without the harshness. These reverberations hang in the air, combining to create a textured, ambient sound, which is dense but, at the same time, much more sparse than the band's sound on their earlier albums. This kind of approach brings to mind artists like Steve Reich, Aphex Twin and Brian Eno much more so than indie rockers like Ride or The Boo Radleys.
This album is evidence that Slowdive were one of the most forward thinking and creative acts of the '90s. Even the band's closest contemporaries Seefeel and My Bloody Valentine sounded nothing like this. Pygmalion is one of the most original and essential album of the shoegaze movement.
Neil Halstead used delay and reverb to create an effect not unlike that of a sustain pedal on a piano. He coated the vocals with these effects to sustain each individual note so that they clash with adjacent melody notes to create a similar effect to a cluster chord, but without the harshness. These reverberations hang in the air, combining to create a textured, ambient sound, which is dense but, at the same time, much more sparse than the band's sound on their earlier albums. This kind of approach brings to mind artists like Steve Reich, Aphex Twin and Brian Eno much more so than indie rockers like Ride or The Boo Radleys.
This album is evidence that Slowdive were one of the most forward thinking and creative acts of the '90s. Even the band's closest contemporaries Seefeel and My Bloody Valentine sounded nothing like this. Pygmalion is one of the most original and essential album of the shoegaze movement.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I can't say how much i love this album. It has such a psychedelic atmosphere without strictly being of that genre. It is really hypnotic and definitely a late night album that wil lull you into another world of eerie and spectral shadows. The music is almost solemn and ceremonial but has a suggestion of unease all the time. it is just brilliant. For my money the best thing to come out of the so called shoe gazing scene (whatever that stupid media invented term meant).own it.NOW.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Having enjoyed Slowdive's 'Souvlaki' album I decided to pick up this - their next, and final, effort. I didn't really know what to expect. Basically, it's a stripped down affair - consisting mostly of delayed guitar and vocals. It is certainly not an immediate album, requiring a lot of patience (and a lot of spins) to sink in. Be prepared to give this album a lot of your time before you truly appreciate it!
It's not the most upbeat collection of music either... but fans of Souvlaki probably won't be expecting anything happy. It's great for late night, introspective listening. Blue Skied An Clear, in particular, is a one of the highpoints.
In summary, not for everyone, but an enjoyable piece of music if you're prepared to invest some time in it.
It's not the most upbeat collection of music either... but fans of Souvlaki probably won't be expecting anything happy. It's great for late night, introspective listening. Blue Skied An Clear, in particular, is a one of the highpoints.
In summary, not for everyone, but an enjoyable piece of music if you're prepared to invest some time in it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
fantastic
Wow! A friend recommended this album to me and I can't say I am disppointed. I had never heard of Slowdive before. The vocals just blow me away. Can't stop listening to it now!
Published on 6 Sep 2009 by Jaspal Paddan
Slowdive's unusual but effective final album.
For a long time, Slowdive's swansong "Pygmalion" eluded me. The internet informed me of the minimalist art that adorned its cover, the strange titles, and the fact that it was long... Read more
Published on 3 July 2009 by Alex
Pioneering...
THE best Slowdive album. Way ahead of it's time. Some of it reminds me of Talk Talk, some of Labradford! Absolutely stunning it's an overlooked classic.
Published on 20 Sep 2008 by CJ Loades
OK
Slowdive always seemed to me to be 2nd division shoegazers and this album, while a worthwhile progression away from their pedal-laden indie beginnings towards a more mature, spacey... Read more
Published on 24 Oct 2007 by N. Harris
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