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Everything is Alive (2023) - Slowdive

Addictive globules of sonic honey. Give it to me.

When people say that established artists have a formula, they say it as though they are alchemists. Slowdive, however, are something more akin to a confectioner. They dredge the sonic landscape for the sweeter side of the palette. This is no more apparent than on their release Everything is Alive (2023), which acts as a cauldron in which all their previous releases coalesce into an addictive mass of writhing beauty.

Synths and shoegaze converge seamlessly on the opening track Shanty, a gorgeously sincere and sweeping example of a confident Slowdive, unashamed to pull from all corners of their library to create something wholly unique but familiar in taste, like a nostalgic treat from the past, infused with new flavours.

Prayer Remembered is a prime example of looking forwards whilst dragging the past with you. Shades of the self-titled emanate from the ornate, careful guitar-work. One could argue that this is Slowdive at their most thoughtful, as they parse through the prayers that one can’t say with words alone. 

Alife spawns from the last track with vocals that sound holy and haunted in equal measure - a careful dosage that only years of experimentation can balance as expertly as this. From a structural standpoint, this track might be the closest to a contemporary song, one that the listener might associate with the more modern wave of shoegaze. However, Slowdive prove that they can adjust to the times whilst injecting familiarity into each tone.

Andalucia Plays is a uniquely grounded song for Slowdive, one that opens itself, rather than closing itself off. It is a wonderfully mature rumination. Kisses also proves to be unique, certainly the most ‘pop’ orientated song on the project and perhaps, one may argue, of their whole career. These are welcome additions to the Slowdive canon and prove, even now, that experimentation drives this band forward.

Skin In The Game is a stand-out statement of intent, one that cements the band in a canon all their own. Powerful, simple drums pulse onwards, whilst the production almost makes the song sound like a forgotten relic, something seen elsewhere in the looming clouds of Chained To A Cloud.

The Slab, the closing track, is a grand suite, dedicated to moving. Moving on, moving forwards - always moving. No matter the pain, or the grief. It is arguably one of the most important songs in the Slowdive catalogue.

Ultimately, Everything is Alive is the sound of a band screaming out to the world. Screaming out a declaration - through it all, they are alive, and that is a gorgeous thing.

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Kisses (Single, 2023) - Slowdive Review

Kissing the inside walls of a dream.

Slowdive, the legendary dream-pop alchemists, return with Kisses, a single that chimes with the past and resonates with the future - an open dialogue that proves thoroughly interesting. Another dripping hit from their perfected needle.

A rather propulsive song, it springs with energy like the drowsy thrust into life. The continued exploration with minor synth infractions lends their expansive sound another layer, whilst the guitars continue to provide their breathlessly ethereal graces. 

Whilst the promotional video might depict listlessness and aimlessness, the song itself is nothing but sharp and focused, a small fraction of the void. This re-energised outfit have spun loss into a golden fleece of a track - one that is sure to define their future, moving forwards.

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Seamonsters (1991) - The Wedding Present Review

The weight of the world, in a masterful thrash.

Seamonsters (1991) is a remarkable title. Remarkable that, in articulating the everyday pain and mundanity of life, it takes on a primordial meaning. Former lovers become seamonsters through the scorned eye. Through delving deep into the deluge of the waves and confronting their monsters, Gedge and Co find a raw, beating heart - given structure by the ribcage of sonics used by themselves and their producer, the legendary Steve Albini.

Their first album of the 1990’s, The Wedding Present shed the flowery sadness that defined their 1980’s output in favour of a more stripped-back, emotionally honest and completely bare-faced experience. A dry, painful experience. Best exemplified by the opening track Dalliance, a four-minute long emotional torture session in which Gedge gouges his heart from his wounded chest and thrashes it around by the arteries. Sonically, it draws upon the quiet-loud-quiet dynamic of groups like Pixies, highlighting the swirling, shoegaze pain of a long-term relationship in the throes of a break-down.

Dare, whilst certainly more angular than previous Presents, retains a certain coy and frank charm from previous records. A powerfully sharp instrumental, it also spawned the bonus track Dan Dare, again playing into the playful and referential nature of The Wedding Present. Carried into Suck like a drowned man carried into the waves, Gedge is almost washed-out amongst the prongs of thick, alternative instrumentals that tow the line between the shoegaze of the 1980’s and the grunge of the 1990’s.

Blonde is a showcase of the simplistic yet highly impactful drums, a key focus of Albini’s production. It also brings the focus back to women, in a way that scratches past notions of the male gaze to become something bleakly personal, to a terrifying degree. 

Seamonsters is an album full of left-turns and contradictions, evident in the channelling of The Velvet Underground present on Rotterdam, a track that sounds as though Gedge had kidnapped Lou Reed, worming his way into his position. A brilliantly soft turn that marks a change in the project, one in which they make peace with their past and start to bleed it into the pointed first half.

Lovenest continues to express sentiments seen on Dare, with a similar palette, whilst Corduroy finds Gedge in a nostalgic mood, churning his words and playing in an act of calculated violence. 

The jangle-pop of The Smiths guides the sweeping notions of Carolyn, a song in which the vocal delivery almost denotes a lullaby with a gentle, purring whisper - something like a life-boat, finding comfort on discomforting waves. Almost a sister song to Carolyn, Heather teeters between the wall-of-noise that defines the ocean scenes of Seamonsters and the acoustic bliss that marks the end of the storm.

Truly, Seamonsters is a terrific journey in the midst of a storm at sea, ending with a newfound perspective on survival. The closing track, Octopussy, is nothing if not an admission of survival amongst a searing sea of personal feelings and the guilt of getting out half-alive. And, through the act of listening, one does survive.

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I Inside The Old I Dying (Single, 2023) - PJ Harvey Review

The huffing of a pastoral ghost.

The second single of the year by acclaimed musician-poet PJ Harvey sees her invoke the spirit of a dying Mother Nature through hushed yet expressive vocals and a spare, clerical instrumental palette.

A multi-media collage forms the basis of the music video, presenting a desolate, almost southern-gothic landscape. Black, white, dirt and ruin. Every image as frail as paper and cardboard. A gentle wind could stir the soil and collapse everything.

This is the visual that culminates from a rousing performance - a subtle, almost dry yet entirely somber tone that rises and falters in equal measure.

Much like the artwork for the album, it is a pastoral sparsity that defines her words on this track, clearly placing more emphasis on the kingdom itself, than the person whose return anchors the near religious backing track to the lyrical content.

A culmination and a rumination, I Inside The Old I Dying is a melodically brilliant and lyrically intriguing track, one that is sure to occupy an interesting position in relation to the rest of the release.

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A Thousand Leaves (1998) - Sonic Youth

The hoarfrost - breathing in melody.

Finding bliss in the Autumn rain and Winter frost, where A Thousand Leaves (1998) lies. It is here we find Sonic Youth, playing in the Indian Summer and conjuring an album that sounds similarly brisk, tripped-out and meandering - in a very positive way. This might be the most underrated album of the vast catalogue of New York noise darlings Sonic Youth, where they take their pop leanings and experimental insights and harvest them in a beautiful flurry.

From its cream-coloured collage to the music itself, A Thousand Leaves find Sonic Youth in a more mellow, confident mood - one that inches towards a sense of melody and musicality not yet explored within the expanses of noise and power already within the Sonic Youth repertoire.

Breathy, lethargic opener Contre Le Sexism sees the seething of Kim Gordon now in more tender tones, even as the almost industrial pulses and lo-fi guitar keep the band in firmly sinister ground. The following song, Sunday, takes this lo-fi guitar interplay to extremes to bring us the most radio-friendly song of the album, one that provides a propulsion throughout, with its disjointed elements creating a harmony that seems to embody the spirit of the album and its more lax attitude.

Female Mechanic Now On Duty finds Gordon in a more nostalgic mood, evoking the palette of past projects within the playground established by the opening one-two punch of Contre Le Sexism and Sunday. Despite its subject matter, it uses its extended timeframe to play with many interesting sounds and interplay that evoke the harsh sounds of a mechanical environment - an automotive factory at night-time.

Wildflower Soul bounces between extreme noise and quiet guitar dynamics whilst playing with similar imagery to the Ronaldo-led Hoarfrost - an album highlight that catches the core identity of the project and exposes it openly. The appropriately named French Tickler uses the hoarse vocals of Gordon perfectly, its guitars and drums working to give us the mutilated corpse of a 1960s French Lounge song that captures the carefree confidence of the band at this stage in their career.

Songs such as Hits of Sunshine (For Allen Ginsberg) and Karen Koltrane take a fuzzy pleasure in wearing their influences out in the open of the September air they evoke, with the more melodic, psychedelic vocal performances and nonsensical lyrics succeeding at luring the listener into the teeth-chattering world of musicianship the band achieve with the final string of songs.

The psychedelic sprawl of Snare, Girl acts like a chime to signal an end to the odyssey across the equinox, before leaving us with Heather Angel, one of the defining Sonic Youth closing tracks. The subtle yet effortlessly trippy guitar effects lead the listener down one final binge of the soundscape the band is capable of on this record. As Gordon fades away, the second half of the track becomes the horrid comedown, the thump and the stomp before the fall that swirls us back to reality. Throughout, one can truly see the impassioned energy of the band on this project, willing to embrace all facets of their identity with a proud demeanour. And then, silence.

A Thousand Leaves ends and the listener is left, making angels in the pile. Certainly, one of the most underrated albums of the band’s discography and a career highlight, for a band with so many.