My Bloody Valentine
Loveless

THE REVIEW

The nineties, personally, no longer represent Seattle's grunge, too banal now and lacking in imagination. According to many, "Spiderland" by Slint gloriously embodies the pinnacle of the conception of this decade. Perhaps "Loveless" by the Irish My Bloody Valentine more comprehensively marks the end of one era and the beginning of another. The band's farsighted creativity, already clearly shown in their debut "Isn't Anything", namely the dissolution of Beat melody in the acid of fuzz loaded with watts, is definitively realized at this point of no return.

What comes after "Loveless"? Nothing. It's exactly that kind of work that conveys the sensation of absolute emptiness beyond it. The brilliance of My Bloody Valentine lies in not presenting themselves as a clone band, a period at the end of the eighties infested by fleeting bands, and having scouted a personal line to uphold as an example. "Loveless" is wasted being hung as a poster in a bedroom. It's useless to replay it watching YouTube tutorials to unveil the thousand tricks in the pedals. It is simply to be admired.

Shoegaze, though, can be represented by many groups, such as Slowdive, the Jesus & Mary Chain, or Ride. It’s a box containing many realities, with the only drawback of almost always bordering on the same ambient. Like punk, synthesized into "four chords and chaos," shoegaze risks being recognized in "full blast watts and a thousand effects." Behind the inhuman wall of sound, the design slowly takes form. The whispered, ethereal voice, hard to discern amid the noise, are the peculiar characteristics.

In 1991, one comes into contact with an excessive amount of music, most of it devoted to charts, mainstream, and videos to run every two hours on MTV. From this period onward, there's a definitive witness of the cancellation of post-punk and the early eighties new wave, and it becomes tough to support the industrial and noise framework of Sonic Youth. In fact, it is into this genre that shoegaze actually falls.

Therefore, to revitalize the situation colored by the money-grubbing record labels, there's Kevin Shields (guitar and vocals), Bilinda Butcher (vocals and guitar), Debbie Googe (bass), and Colm O'Ciosoig (drums); they are My Bloody Valentine, and the perfect ticket to know the sound is the sensational "Only Shallow," the opening track. Here we are immediately welcomed by sweet dreamy vocal lines of Blinda perfectly married with the harsh feedback of Kevin's guitar.

The thrill persists with the infinite vortex of "To Here Knows When," an acidic lullaby where the voice appears and disappears amid the colossal wall of sound, and the majestic "Sometimes," a drugged ballad that brings various Lennon and Reed to mind and deserves a mention apart as a symbolic song. A rain of guitar over the sky of voice spread by the divine Kevin Shields.

Other significant praises go to the various "When You Sleep," the song that Verdena unfortunately seeks in vain from "Wow" onwards, and the meeting of raga rock with rave culture in the seven minutes of "Soon." Interesting moments are the Beatlesque "I Only Said" (with a memorable guitar line) and "I Come Alone," as well as the Cocteau Twins style dream pop of "Blown A Wish" and the square rhythms of "What You Want," where the mood of the debut reappears.

All of this birthed in 1991, when girls had those delightful bob haircuts, and boys wore oversized shirts and high-waisted jeans. And what do we have in the multi-technological 2017? If you love "Loveless," you don't look for anything else, after all.