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<\/a><\/p>\nLike much of a certain portion of my generation, the early \u201990s signify an era of music marked by shimmering melodies blurred by swathes of guitars. As manifested by a league of Brits with hair in their eyes, shoegaze seemingly took the promise of the psychedelic era and fulfilled it by eschewing jam band aesthetics for something as mind-meltingly beautiful as it was vitriolic. In other words, a style built on extremes more in keeping with a lysergic ethos.<\/p>\n
While perhaps not as groundbreaking as some or as appealing on a pop level as others, Reading\u2019s Slowdive nevertheless was among the genre\u2019s most unique. The three albums the band created between 1991 and 1995 revealed the band continuously finding new ways of riding the waves of their dual-guitar attack while remaining exceedingly mellow. That those records remain distinct and undiminished by time speaks to Slowdive\u2019s creative prowess. It is also provides ample reason for the band to reunite, especially considering singers Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell continued to work together in Mojave 3 for many years after the split.<\/p>\n
There was little fanfare when the band took to the stage of the Royale in Boston last week, just a simple \u201chello\u201d from Goswell and \u201chow ya\u2019 doin\u2019?\u201d from Halstead. But the excitement of the soldout crowd was nonetheless palpable as they fittingly launched into \u201cSlowdive,\u201d on which Christian Savill\u2019s ringing guitar tones instantly melted away the 20 years since the band last played the States. So to with Goswell\u2019s singing on the subsequent \u201cAvalyn,\u201d as her voice has seemingly changed very little. On songs like \u201cCrazy for You\u201d and \u201cDagger,\u201d though, it was easy to hear how Halstead sings differently with this band than on his own or with Mojave 3. He\u2019s more subdued and doesn\u2019t utilize his full range, but that hardly hinders the material.<\/p>\n
Slowdive\u2019s set was flawless in terms of selection, order, and length: a near perfect 90 minutes that got better and better as it unfolded. As such, when \u201cShe Calls\u201d ascended into a fury of strummed guitar notes, it wasn\u2019t so much an aural blitzkrieg as a natural progression into cacophony. \u201cAlison,\u201d perhaps my favorite moment, similarly highlighted the band\u2019s dichotomy of beauty and furor. They finished the set proper with a cover of Syd Barrett\u2019s \u201cGolden Hair,\u201d a song they\u2019ve been doing since their initial incarnation and on which they drifted further into the eye of their self-made maelstrom. They returned for a two-song encore of the trance-like \u201cRutti\u201d and the brighter \u201c40 Days,\u201d which only further highlighted the band\u2019s sonic breadth. One was left feeling more than a little euphoric, though sadly, I could feel the elation dissipate as Slowdive once again became just a memory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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Slowdive Royale, Boston, October 26 - The Agit Reader<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slowdive-royale-boston-october-26\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Slowdive Royale, Boston, October 26 - The Agit Reader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Like much of a certain portion of my generation, the early \u201990s signify an era of music marked by shimmering melodies blurred by swathes of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slowdive-royale-boston-october-26\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Agit Reader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheAgitReader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-11-03T14:27:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-11-10T14:56:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/slowdivefront.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Stephen Slaybaugh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@agitreader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@agitreader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Stephen Slaybaugh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slowdive-royale-boston-october-26\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slowdive-royale-boston-october-26\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Stephen Slaybaugh\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/person\/4c0a2e33892559e5e2d68fa9de669d89\"},\"headline\":\"Slowdive Royale, Boston, October 26\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-11-03T14:27:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-11-10T14:56:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slowdive-royale-boston-october-26\/\"},\"wordCount\":463,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slowdive-royale-boston-october-26\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/slowdivefront.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Royale\",\"Slowdive\",\"What's the Rumpus?\"],\"articleSection\":[\"What's the Rumpus?\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slowdive-royale-boston-october-26\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slowdive-royale-boston-october-26\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slowdive-royale-boston-october-26\/\",\"name\":\"Slowdive Royale, Boston, October 26 - 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