Lovesliescrushing
Xuvetyn

Scott Cortez has always been a craftsman of shoegaze.

For the past 30 years, he has paved the way while often maintaining a low profile, exploring the paths and history of this genre. He has explored its angles, refined its peculiarities, and has been both its thesis and antithesis. His musical research is evidenced by his numerous projects and his richly nuanced discography: for example, Whitenoisesuperstar, under the name Astrobrite, is a gem that plays on the blend between "pop form" and noise aesthetics; Rkodr, within the Transient Stellar project, offers an intriguing hybrid between the shoegaze language and electronic drum'n'bass rhythms.

Without a doubt, among this river of monikers and publications, Lovesliescrushing holds the place of honor. The duo, consisting of Cortez and singer Melissa Arpin-Duimstra, is configured as the guitarist from Chicago's first real project, and right from the first album Bloweyelashwish, released between 1992 and 1993, it is clear that this is not just another copy of My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive.

Xuvetyn was released in 1996 but includes compositions prior to those of Bloweyelashwish. In this album, the sound of Lovesliescrushing reaches its full development. It's hard to constrain it to a definition: it is spacious and ethereal like an air bubble underwater; it is absolutely static but never the same; it is both dazing and comforting at the same time.

The shoegaze formula has often been followed pedantically by countless successors of the aforementioned bands, but that's certainly not the case here. The unmistakable wall of sound of Loveless clearly forms the base of the album's offering, but it's stripped to the bare essentials, distilled to the brink, and brought almost to paroxysm.

Where the rhythm of Ride and Slowdive held its roots firmly in the late 80s pop, Xuvetyn wholly rejects any percussive elements, baring the "dream" of its own "pop." The guitar is manipulated and liquefied until it loses any trace of strumming, melting into a single, interminable sonic flow. The lyrics, under the spell of Duimstra's angelic voice, forgo all intelligibility, becoming the surface in the stratification of sounds. While Kevin Shields nearly bankrupted a recording studio in his obsessive quest for the perfect sound through unconventional recording techniques and extreme effects, Scott Cortez practically realized the entire album at home with a small 4-track recorder. Like him, the early bedroom musicians, who at that time began to have the tangible opportunity to express themselves even within the four walls of their own rooms.

In an hour and sixteen minutes, Xuvetyn paints a vibrant and celestial psychedelic fresco in which tracks seem to last forever and from forever. They are landscapes of reverb and distortion, occasionally interrupted by brief interludes like Staticburst and Hum Vibralux; they are not completely shoegaze nor entirely ambient. The absolute stasis, however, never leads to fatigue or repetitiveness: pieces like Blooded And Blossom-Blown, Virgin Blue-eyed, and the triumphant finale of Bones Of Angels instead reach very high peaks of emotional intensity, hypnotizing and seducing the listener with sound textures and infinite feedback reflections.

Xuvetyn is sensuality, ecstasy, lucid dream. It is the purest soul and the most complete sublimation of the shoegaze language. An album that may intimidate at first listen but in which it is necessary to accept to lose oneself in order to find oneself again.

A small masterpiece worthy of finally finding the proper recognition.