I've always been of the persuasion that the EPs were what cemented Slowdive as the shoegaze heavyweights that they were. Not in terms of units pushed, or in calling-card shoegaze anthems(blame the masses not the songwriting),but in terms of their sound being pushed to its transcendental conclusion. There's sheer light here. Waterfalls of noise cascading down from heaven, nebulae sprawling out across the universe, a swirling coalescence of psychedelic sound and vision. Pure yearning, vast emptiness, and unadulterated human beauty here that I doubt anything could pin down like this EP did in three songs. Three songs! The brevity makes it fun to pretend it's an orchestral movement, and it works as one. The upper voices playfully retreating from and back into the immense guitar noise sounds like pure love. It feels weird to even call them "chords" as opposed to noise. There's movement, sure, but it's so jagged. It's the pieces from a stained glass window laying broken in the sun and glimmering at you knowingly. It's a warm blanket the lead guitar, bass, drums, and vocals laze about on. Which has always been the shoegaze tradition but humor me here
There's no shortage of highlights within the songs. The disengaged Halstead vocal laments the indecipherable things gazers lament about on Morningrise. The hazy guitar stumbles around, bending into and out of the right notes. Miss Goswell joins in on the chorus with her enchanting song. It's almost a human song in the straightforwardness of the melody and the chord progression, but it's too ethereal, a bit too removed from reality, a bit too having a conversation with someone while tripping. She Calls is the most dynamic, pushing and pulling against itself like the ocean. Guitar noise and simple melodic mantras give way to a single drum hit and then shoot off into the stratosphere. Each melody from the siren's mouths strives to touch God, with the guitars taken along with them for the ride. The outro with the intertwining moans of Halstead and Goswell against the driving and infinite climax will consume your soul if you let it. Losing Today offers a fitting comedown from the ecstasy, with its heartbeat pulse and contentment to drift away into space.
Take a day. Wear some nice headphones. Drugs optional but encouraged. Embrace the void.
