My Bloody Valentine
Mbv

Initially, the anticipation was centered on the reissues of "Isn't Anything" and "Loveless", then, in light of the always sporadic yet increasingly promising news, on the release of the new album, a true chimera for many die-hard fans of the My Bloody Valentine saga. Unfortunately, having let all these years pass means giving those who were waiting the space to create in their minds their dream album/definitive album, which would sweep away the rest of the music with imaginable innovations, a kind of musical revelation nurtured by a wizard whose myth has grown over time... after stopping at the peak, freezing judgment and hearts indefinitely.

Unfortunately, the bad news is that it is obviously not the definitive album (that exists only in our very personal morning dreams) and it does not meet anyone's expectations, moreover it doesn't even have that ecstatic aura that permeated all of "Loveless" elevating it to a higher dimension. The good news is that it is nonetheless a great album, more challenging than the previous ones, requiring a different kind of attention, but from whose call one cannot escape - if only because it leaves many, too many doubts, a strange underlying dissatisfaction, because it is ineffable and elusive like never before and all attempts to capture and extract its soul, its heart, fail... sometimes one almost gets close... something is sensed... the growing exasperation in Only Tomorrow, the dives of Who Sees You... Other times one would just shake their head, as if faced with the endless torment of Is This And Yes (but let's not forget Touched, which infested Loveless like an annoying and cumbersome sonic dross).

The overall impression is that it is all intentional and planned, the elusiveness conceived as a shield with a precise purpose, namely to hide the access key from the distracted listener. Because this album requires attention, and this is probably its greatest merit. Let's also suppose that it is not as we like to believe, that it is just a flop haphazardly arranged by Shields picking from old leftovers: it wouldn't change in the slightest the fact that it encourages re-listening. Just to be able to reach this conclusion, the throwaway listens we have become accustomed to on the internet are not enough. In fact, the first listens leave one completely indifferent but not disgusted - it is a programmed reaction. Where in "Loveless" it was the noise that smothered the beauty, here it transitions to a subsequent stage, more psychological and perverse, to apparent coldness to hide the beauty. It took twenty years to digest "Loveless" because it was blatantly unheard of... it might take just as many more years to digest this because it is the exact opposite; in the age where everyone is seeking sensation, My Bloody Valentine have decided to walk the opposite path, contrary as always to the pressures of transient and common feeling. And we should only thank them for this gift that allows us to distance ourselves a bit from the vacuity of the white noise that infests us every day, on the internet, on the radio, in our heads. They are telling us that it's time to refocus if we want things to take a better turn.