Slowdive ‘Everything Is Alive’ Review: Reunited British Shoegazers prove once again they are a vital entity not dependent on 90’s nostalgia on new album.
Slowdive have had quite the career reappraisal. They were critically panned during their 90’s tenure before being dropped by Creation Records and then disbanding, only to garner a massive cult following during their absence. The group reformed in 2014 to capitalize on their cultural resurgence with an eponymous comeback album, hailed by critics and fans alike as one of their best.
And now over six years later (the album was delayed due to the pandemic and the passing of family members), the group return with latest album Everything Is Alive, proving their comeback LP was no fluke: it was only the beginning.
Their new effort is a subdued triumph that hits on all the group’s sonic hallmarks, while adding electronics to their sound (Bandleader/vocalist Neil Halstead initially planned to make a synth driven solo album, before bringing his compositions to the band).
Instead of going full on synth, the group marries electronic textures with their signature dreamy guitar sound, as evidenced on opening track Shanty, where arpeggiated synths (one approximating a harpsichord) and quantized, distorted, oceanic guitars cast a atmospheric haze over Halstead and co-vocalist Rachel Goswell’s soothing croons.
Prayer Remembered is a finely crafted instrumental, its moving, minimalistic, cinematic scope recalling Mogwai and Brian Eno, with a fragile guitar figure, throbbing bass and misty textures achieving full transcendence.
This deeply emotive, ambient approach extends to numbers like Andalucia Plays, recalling the melody of Here She Comes Now (off their 1992 album Souvlaki) but with a bassline reminiscent of The Cure’s Pictures of You, while Skin In The Game’s warped guitar and Halstead’s bubbling vocals recalls the more experimental nature of the group’s 1995 (temporary) swan song Pygmalion.
The group also know how to reign in their more obtuse aspects and dive into pop song craft, as witnessed on, Alfie a lilting track perfect for a Sunday coastal drive, with Halstead and Goswell’s cooing soothing vocals casting a spritely spell. Likewise, Kisses is their most accessible song to date, an airy indie rock gem augmented with plucked banjo, and a melody akin to U2’s Beautiful Day if filtered through a goth prism.
Chained To A Cloud is an ambient oasis, with dreamy synths, spare drums and Goswell and Halstead at their most vulnerable, the knotty composition adding continued layers to its insistent melodic hook until it builds into aural ecstasy.
The Slab changes course, perhaps the most aggressive song of their career, its rising tension and repeated riff cascading into a spiraling anthem that closes the album out in fine fashion.
Everything Is Alive proves that Slowdive are playing the long game, releasing albums on their own timetable, and focusing on quality over quantity (the album consists of just 8 tracks). It’s compelling, thematic and shows them far from complacent. Indeed, its immediacy and vitality lives up to the album’s title.
It’s also, despite being written during a dark period for the band (and the world), ultimately an album of optimism, as Halstead noted in the press release (“It wouldn’t feel right to make a really dark record right now. The album is quite eclectic emotionally, but it does feel hopeful”). It’s a much welcome salve to our doomscrolling era.
Who knows when Slowdive will grace us with their next release, but with a track record this stellar, why rush greatness?
