Sunday Jamz | Shak | Album Review | Slowdive - Slowdive (2017)

'I wanna feel it'

Shoegaze juggernauts Slowdive release their first full length studio album in twenty two years, and after two singles I felt lukewarm on, I was unsure what to expect.

In terms of the sound, Slowdive embrace their indie roots here more potently than on any of their previous releases. The tempos and rhythms feel a lot faster and punchier than on an album like Souvlaki and the songs structures are a lot more straightforward than an album like Pygmalion. At the very least, this album succeeds in carving a unique identity within their back-catalogue, and so a fault one cannot push on this album is that it is a band trying to desperately grasp onto and reproduce their past.

There are moments on this album where they utilise this slightly more upbeat approach to create songs that are affectionate, catchy and colourfully rhythmic. Slomo, for example, features huge ascending and descending guitar wails and beautifully arranged vocals that sit on top of a slightly more up-tempo and fun drum beat than one you may have heard on previous albums. But the tender, dissolving beauty is not sacrificed here and is still ever-present, especially at moments like the harmonising between Neil and Rachel, showing their vocals are still able to blend and bleed into each other to create mesmerising sounds.

However, there are songs that move away from their old sounds at the expense of the glistening delicacy and emotive force. The lead single, Star Roving, has a clearer and more rhythmic dream pop sound than the smothering shoegaze of their early days. The riff is very discernible, and it seems the guitars are used less as bastions for brick walls of sounds and slightly more for their common rock and pop usage. Also, again the song has a distinct groove. In this though, there is a lack of that sonic singularity and feeling of oneness that songs on Souvlaki achieved so well. For example, tracks like Machine Gun and Souvlaki Space Station would smother you with blissful melodies, whereas a song like Star Roving lacks the towering stature of sound to do that. Because of this, the overwhelming, drowning emotion of those older songs are lost, and I find myself more detached in feeling. Similarly, Don’t Know Why has an even more bouncier feel, speeding up the pace even further in the verses. Luckily this song is redeemed by slower breaks where Rachel’s voice can bask in the ocean of reverb, and I can let it wash over me rather than jump around me. There is also a fragment of the song that Neil champions, again slower, and more able to stimulate some sentimentality in me.

The lowest point of this album, Sugar for the Pill, although does not suffer from the distracting bounciness, feels almost cheesy in its delivery of sensitivity. The riff is a pleasant aspect of the track, itself being very intimate. However, Neil’s performance lacks the vulnerability of a song like Dagger. Perhaps it is in the writing of the melodies, or perhaps it is an aged voice, either way, something here is missing. And although No More Making Time has a sombre and haunting riff, the chorus feels overly simple and full of beating chords which detracts from the soft emotional touch that their style and their voices are complimented by.

Luckily, the album goes out on two high notes. Go Get It finally packs an emotional punch with the ‘I wanna see it, I wanna feel it’ trade-off soaring amongst the various refrains on the project. What’s more, there is a noticeable depth and earthiness to the drums here, and a brilliant moment in the latter portions of the song where Neil’s voice drops to its lowest register and groans on top of some primal percussion. Following from this, the album closer has a delicate piano and soft guitar coupling, which gradually increases in layers, conjuring a building intensity until they produce a climactic duality. This is the album’s most touching and sweet moment undoubtedly.

As a reviewer, I have committed the cardinal sin, I spent much of the review comparing it to their ‘glory days’. However, those signature shoegaze ethereal walls of sound are still here (albeit less prominent), as are Neil and Rachel and their heavily effect-ridden voices. The components are much the same, and so I feel the comparisons are warranted. Although most of the songs have some redeemable quality somewhere, I find myself distracted by an unmatched energy on this album, and overall less emotionally impacted as I would have hoped.  

Highlights: Slomo, Go Get It, Falling Ashes
Lowlights: Sugar for the Pill

Rating: 6.5/10