Review Summary: You will never love this album any less once you plugged the earphone to your ear and press play for it.
In my first review about
Slowdive's Souvlaki, I mentioned that I knew
My Bloody Valentine by watching a video about their surprise album drop with their self-titled comeback album. I listened to the snippets that the video gave me, and it didn't really catch me. Until when I came across another video in the same channel that introduce albums that define the genre, the video gave the snippet of "Only Shallow" that introduce Loveless as an honourable mention (a mention that deserve to mention without climbing on the list), I was astounded with the galloping drumming and the vacuum-like guitar riffs, that what I realise what the term shoegazing mean:a dreamy, ecstasy-like music that was driven by grinding guitars and swooning melodies.
Let's start with the astounding "Only Shallow". Like I mentioned, the opening drum solo and vacuum-like riffs were so astounding, that I initially thought the band hired an orchestra to do such thing. However, when I learned that leader Kevin Shields used samplers (for the vacuum-like riffs) and the glide guitar technique (where he waved the tremolo bar of the guitar when he strummed), to make the sound like a guitar orchestra and so heady, I was even amazed that how a band can do with guitars. Lyrics aside, the sound of "Only Shallow" already had a perfect and psychedelic kickstart for a perfect and psychedelic album, so psychedelic that it made you wonder whether you snorted some drugs or not.
The following tracks are also harshly beautiful works too. For instance, the lush and all-too-brief "Loomer" was a melancholy yet blissful track that recalls the atmosphere Slowdive's "Machine Gun", where vocalist Bilinda Butcher sings about isolation ("Tiptoe down/ To the lonely places" and "Little girls in their party dresses/ Didn't like anything there"), the melodies in the song gave you a feeling of warmly and safely loneliness, unlike "Machine Gun" which is dirgeful and heartbreaking lonely; the briefer instrumental "Touched" (composed by drummer Colm Ó CÃ*osóig), is a composition of strings and percussions that really defines what Loveless is, a music that is equivalent to sex: tender, yet transcendent and powerful. For some, "Touched" may be unnecessary in the album for some, given the sound of it does sound like the guitar having orgasms and the track is less than a minute, but the track also spiced up the ecstasy-like nature of the album, which is the reason why Loveless became such a landmark.
Then, enter "To Here Knows When", the weirdest and most psychedelic track among the albums. It sounds like two radio signals overlapped together, yet in a beautiful way, thanks to the unsettling synth-and-flute-like high guitar notes and Shields' glide guitar, giving the song like a rollercoaster-like euphoric experience. During the song, Butcher sang the lyrics about sex in a very intimate way yet not explicit ("Move on top/ Because that way, you touch her too"). Then, the song switched to a dark guitar slashing, setting the tone for the next track, "When You Sleep", all in the while becoming one of the crowning jewels in the album; the following track is another highlight in the album, with Shields's guitar that is rather metallic, and the flute-like high notes makes the song so memorable among the album's tracks, with Shields (no Bilinda's vocals in the track even it sounds like she sung it in the record, according to Shields himself, as he simply put all his vocals that have been speeded up and slowed down together) sings about falling in love in a rather corny yet sweet way,("When I look at you/Oh, I don't know what's real/ Once in a while/ And you make me laugh" and "When you say 'I do'/ Oh, I don't believe you") with the youthful guitar atmosphere, keeping many couples remember how they feel in love to each other, it's no wonder why this song is the band's live staple.
Following tracks continue the excellent trend: "I Only Said" is one of the most uplifting and headbanging songs among the pack, with the heavily processed slashing guitar and fragile flute samples, makes the song a stunning show opener, having listeners to be mesmerised in the track; "Come In Alone" is a more melancholy song among the eleven songs, with down-tempo guitar riffs, the yearning guitar solos and darker guitar effects, while Shields gives us the most despairing lyrics("Come in alone/ You'll love to let go", "When your hopes gave me doubts" and "Why I don't need to believe what you see").
Next, here comes "Sometimes", a track that was used in the soundtrack of the movie Lost In Translation. The song was perfect to use in the movie, as the contrast of the droning synthesisers and clean acoustic guitar and the dirgeful lyrics by Shields about breakup and desire to come back together("I don't know how you could not love me now", "I don't know, maybe you could not hurt me now" and "Over there, when I await true love to you"), fits the loneliness in the snowy Tokyo, all in the while becoming a more recognised song among casual listeners.
Then, the trend turns brighter in "Blown A Wish" where MBV turns into a more twee pop direction.Within the song, Butcher sung about the happiness in a romantic relationship("Blow me a kiss, I'll blow one to you" and "Show me your favourite things/Show you all mine too"), with a more luminous glide guitar and some angelic cooing in the background that is reminiscent of Slowdive's Rachel Goswell's and the beautiful twee pop of
Lush and
Cocteau Twins, giving it a more romantic track among the albums.
However, throwbacks to the band's Isn't Anything era is resurfaced in "What You Want", with its metallic yet psychedelic riffs are reminiscent with their debut full-length album, pumping adrenaline for those who listen to it, with at the end, there were heavenly flutes that proudly concludes the track, makes it a more enjoyable track, despite having vaguest lyrics in the album. ("What you want/But you know that I'm alive", "Oh, I come back to the one who calls my name out" and "Then I back to you/And then you make him go inside")
The final track of the album, "Soon", was a perfect succession of the previous track and a perfect closing track. Like "Only Shallow", the track is a perfect track for listeners to head-bang to and even dance to. With the jangle-pop, syrupy vocals and the droning guitars, it's no wonder why Brian Eno called it "the new standard for pop".
To sum up, this album sets every essence that shoegaze should have, heavily processed and dreamy guitars, cloudy rhythms and hazy vocals, making many rock artists from Slowdive,
Ride, Lush,
The Smashing Pumpkins to blackgazers such as
Alcest and
Deafheaven to replicate the layered, harshly beautiful sound of Loveless. It may not sound like a record that spent about half a million dollars to make, but given to its influence and legacy, this record is definitely worth every single penny spent.
It is definitely a recommended album for those who seek an album with otherworldly sound, as it displayed how can a guitar can achieve something so beautiful and unique, while being one of the greatest rock albums of all time.
