2023-09-07 22:04:53
Trusted and reliable; But still: Six years following their self-titled comeback, the shoegaze veterans are reinventing themselves Slowdive for Everything is Alive but a little bit new.
„I thought it was going to be quite a dark record but once we got together as a band, I think some of that darkness lifted and some of the tunes became a bit lighter. We found that spot that we’re all comfortable with. I think we were a bit stumped regarding direction initially – we took the long way round to just making a record that sounds like Slowdive.” says Neil Halstead and is of course right with this final conclusion, but the song sounds like a hodgepodge Everything is Alive – who, to say it right from the start, can only be criticized for the fact that the sequencing doesn’t result in a completely smooth flow and the band’s traditional threading out of some numbers in its hasty haste this time reaches a level that is often more than just frustrating – because it was originally intended for one The electro project of their main songwriter, built on analogue Moog synths, was created, but so different than any previous one Slowdive-Album.
The herbaceous space rock of trance Shanty might also be from The Notwist come from where Chained to a Cloud (and in the context, to a certain extent the album circle) closes as if Beach House dissolve gently into a transcendent hypnosis groove. The spacey, unhurried and introspective running through ethereal fields of the 80s Alife might be from the summer memories of M83 and the Andalucia Plays, which more elegiacally slow down the tempo to quiet, meditative contemplation, vaguely associate the aesthetics of a The Cure-Dive in unreal beauty.
There are songs like the somnambulistic instant catchy tune Kisseswhich caresses the ear in such a non-committal way, or the rather inconspicuous nostalgic who indulges in nostalgia from the past with a rumbling bass Skin in the Gamewhich in their accessibility make no secret of the fact that Everything is Alive no such anachronistic excess like Sugar for the Pill must have in order to please with an almost attack-like euphoria, which would have to be downright paradoxical in view of the fundamentally subversive effect of the music – if it were not, on the one hand, due to the connection that this bond of hearts has Slowdive has always been cultivated, and which, despite all the modifications, is always noticeable here more than anything else, can be explained; and on the other hand, the addictive quality of the songwriting, which tends towards an open-form structure and forces the atmosphere, is essential.
So you’re immediately in the typical place Slowdive-Feeling, but with a fascinating new, fresh and curious freshness. In a homogeneous character is Everything is Alive less eclectic and never undecided in his direction, but implements new facets into the mature, self-confident mosaic of his identity, adapts ambitious impulses with a perfect unobtrusiveness – no, you don’t have to prove anything to anyone or force anything.
Just how wonderful, unexpected and satisfying it is to immerse yourself in the perspectives of the melancholic, thoughtful, gently pulsating Prayer Remembered Losing yourself as a comforting, shimmering post-rock world is one of the most holistically fulfilling experiences of the band’s entire discography – immediately meeting expectations and nevertheless fulfilling demands.
As soon as the closer The Slab approaches the horizon as an epilogue and spreads a conciliatory mood of optimism with evocative drama behind the tension of the record, which has actually already subsided, the impression remains that this is a possible transitional album for the institution Slowdive to have to do.
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