LOVELESS: The second album by Irish rock band MY BLOODY VALENTINE, released 1991 But is it good?
This album has had a pretty unique listening period for me. I normally give the albums I do for this blog about 1-2 weeks (except last week's, of course) so I can really digest each record. But I've been sitting on this one for about a month, I'm pretty sure I got it on valentines day, ironically enough. And thats because the album is so dense and different to almost any other record I've listened to.
But what does it sound like? Well, LOVELESS is often described as being THE shoegaze record. Shoegaze is named thusly after the musicians spending most of their time on stage staring at their feet- nominally their effects pedals- to create walls of harsh distorted noise, which the genre is most well known for, and which loveless basically set the standard for.
The album is basically defined by this guitar sound, appearing on every track. It gives the collection of songs a real identity and thru-line. It doesn't ease you in either, after a few snare hits the opener Only Shallow explodes with this guitar riff that has been compared to the sound of a vacuum cleaner quite a few times, which repeats before the guitars quiten down a little to allow Belinda Butcher's floating and almost angelic vocals to hang around in the background of the track, which are mixed so low that they're hard to make out at points. The song and the album use this loud-quiet-loud dynamic alot, not too dissimilarly to alot of other 90's bands,
I'd normally now go on to describe all the other tracks in order, but honestly (aside from a few) all the tracks are effectively the same- Loud guitars, fairly run-of-the-mill drumming, whisepered vocals and nice bits of synthesiser work. You'd think this would make the album monotone and uninteresting, but the sonic landscapes are so warm and enveloping, each track will have it's own melodic lead that falls in and out, the vocals are consistently soft yet fleeting across the record, and feel like they're there more for texture than the actual lyrical content.
Texture is certainly a big part of this album. Besides the drums, most of the sounds are continuous, almost dreamy, and make the album comforting more than anything else.
There are a few tracks that differ from this blueprint. Track 3, TOUCHED, is this weird electronic interlude with string bits chopped in and out, and doesnt come off as great. Track 8, SOMETIMES, features a cnstant distorted growl on top of Kevin Shield singing and playing what might be an acoustic guitar before these organ tones come in on top. It was also in the Lost in Translation soundtrack and it works really well in that film.
Overall, the record exudes warmth at every turn. It takes getting used to, for sure, it's totally unlike many many other records, but it's an album that I could listen to in almost any mood- sad, happy or whatever. It's just really well crafted and deserves the critical acclaim it's garnered in the last 30 years. Definitely one to lie down in bed and listen to with headphones to get the full experience. Just a really, really great record. Highly recomend it.
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