{"id":5792,"date":"2017-05-07T21:23:14","date_gmt":"2017-05-08T01:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/?p=5792"},"modified":"2017-05-15T11:14:02","modified_gmt":"2017-05-15T15:14:02","slug":"slowdive-slowdive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slowdive-slowdive\/","title":{"rendered":"Slowdive <br>Slowdive"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/slowdive.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-5793\" src=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/slowdive.jpg\" alt=\"Slowdive\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/slowdive.jpg 250w, https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/slowdive-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a>Of all the bands of the shoegaze era, Slowdive was the one that seemed to never quite live up to its full potential. Sure, records like the band\u2019s sophomore effort, <i>Soulvaki<\/i>, had some sublime moments\u2014\u201cAlison\u201d chief among them\u2014but when the band disbanded just as the scene that celebrated itself was fizzling out, there was a big \u201cwhat if\u201d left hanging in the air.<\/p>\n<p>Though that question was partially resolved by Mojave 3, the band singers <a href=\"http:\/\/www.agitreader.com\/features\/neil_halstead-8.25.html\">Neil Halstead<\/a> and Rachel Goswell formed following the break-up, it wasn\u2019t until Slowdive reunited a few years ago that we began to get some real answers. The shows on the band\u2019s reunion tour revealed that there was still plenty of magic left in the records the band made some 20 years ago. But it is Slowdive\u2019s self-titled fourth album that brings the band\u2019s alchemy to its fruition. (So much so that we may have to redo <a href=\"http:\/\/www.agitreader.com\/news\/shoegaze_top_10.html\">this list<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p><i>Slowdive<\/i> (Dead Oceans) is nothing short of breathtaking, a wondrous mix of ambiance, melody, and shimmery guitar hooks. In just nine songs, Slowdive reaches heights that few of its contemporaries ever approached, creating an album that takes the shoegaze aesthetic with which they\u2019ve always been associated and completely transcends it.<\/p>\n<p>The record begins with \u201cSlomo,\u201d a near seven-minute track that builds at a pace befitting its name, eventually blossoming into bursts of Goswell\u2019s wuthering vocals. It is reminiscent of the Cocteau Twins as much as anything from Slowdive\u2019s past catalog, which is doubly so for \u201cDon\u2019t Know Why,\u201d on which Goswell vocally traipses atop ringing guitar notes not unlike the way Elizabeth Fraser once did. Sparkling with a fairydust of the band\u2019s own making, it is at once ethereal and vaguely melancholic. That aesthetic carries over to \u201cSugar for the Pill,\u201d perhaps the highlight of the record. Here, the guitars are smoothed to chiming refrains that accent the song\u2019s plaintive melody. It is Halstead who takes the spotlight on this track, and it\u2019s not hard to envision the song appearing on one of his solo albums in a more spare form. Same with the piano-led mantra of \u201cFalling Ashes\u201d that closes the record and \u201cNo Longer Making Time,\u201d which seems a companion piece to \u201cSugar for the Pill,\u201d as it mines a similar vein, only with the addition of a tidal wave of guitar that comes crashing in a third of the way through the song. The rest of the album is perhaps more reminiscent of Slowdive\u2019s past work, but is no less stunning. Consider me blown away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Of all the bands of the shoegaze era, Slowdive was the one that seemed to never quite live up to its full potential. Sure, records like the band\u2019s sophomore<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[34,1120,963],"class_list":["post-5792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-album-review","tag-dead-oceans","tag-slowdive"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Slowdive Slowdive - 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=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slowdive-slowdive\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Slowdive Slowdive - The Agit Reader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Of all the bands of the shoegaze era, Slowdive was the one that seemed to never quite live up to its full potential. Sure, records like the band\u2019s sophomore\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slowdive-slowdive\/\" \/>\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=\"2017-05-08T01:23:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-05-15T15:14:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/slowdive.jpg\" \/>\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\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slowdive-slowdive\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slowdive-slowdive\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Stephen Slaybaugh\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/person\/4c0a2e33892559e5e2d68fa9de669d89\"},\"headline\":\"Slowdive Slowdive\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-05-08T01:23:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-05-15T15:14:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slowdive-slowdive\/\"},\"wordCount\":436,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slowdive-slowdive\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/slowdive.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Album Review\",\"Dead Oceans\",\"Slowdive\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Album Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slowdive-slowdive\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slowdive-slowdive\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/slowdive-slowdive\/\",\"name\":\"Slowdive Slowdive - 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