Lost In Feedback (Loveless - My Bloody Valentine)

Member Name: basil40

Product:	Loveless - My Bloody Valentine
Date:	09/02/05 (165 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Innovative, Noisy

Disadvantages: Noisy, No singalong choruses here!

WHO'S THIS THEN?
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It's My Bloody Valentine. They were an experimental band from the late 80's and early 90's indie "shoegazing" scene who were very much more of a studio band than a live band. Fronted by the elusive and enigmatic Kevin Shields, they released two great albums of note: 1988's Isn't Anything and this album, Loveless, from 1991.


WHAT DO THEY SOUND LIKE?
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Noisy, but in a controlled and deliberate way. What other "noisy" is there, I hear you ask. Well, try anarchic, uncontrollable, unplanned and shambolically tuneless. And this is none those. Two years and £60,000 in the making, Loveless is a delicately produced album full of deft, technically whimsical tricks and turns. It features feedback (the art of playing your guitar into your amp and producing a squealing noise not unlike a detuned radio) as an instrument. That sound is then lovingly manipulated into a more listenable form and used with the ethereal vocals (don't even bother trying to decipher the words) and multiple guitar layers.


THE TRACKS
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**1. Only Shallow**
NOthing shallow about this opener. Lovely, confident drums and bass aligned to female (Bilinda Butcher) ethereal, wispy vocals. But, as with most of the tracks on this album, it's the guitars that steal the show. They're dominant and experimental and it quite clearly took Kevin Shields absolutely ages to perfect their sound.

**2. Loomer**
A short track (about 2:30) and one with ghostly vocals and underproduced backing instruments. Without the benefit of a lyrics sheet, there's no teling what Bilinda's on about as she battles against the guitar onslaught. Lovely, in a terrifying sort of way.

**3. Touched**
Not much to report about this 56 second piece. Some synthy strings weep in over guitar that's so distorted it sounds like a distant calling of a whale. No lyrics, no beats, just mood music really.

**4. To Here Knows When**
A very distant percussion sound can be heard underneath Bilinda's nonsensical oohs and aahs. There's more whale noises coming from the mixing desk as Shields' voice makes an appearance on this track. Essentially noise married to beautiful, whimsical vocals. Strange and lush.

**5. When You Sleep**
Possibly the first sight of a song as we would know it. Beats, guitars, bass, vocals and almost a chorus. Trouble is the emphasis is on the clever guitar production and the vocals (intentionally?) are so low down in the mix that it's impossible to hear what's going on. However, this is no singalong album and for that purpose this is a great pre-Britpop indie track. The tune is fantastic and how they managed to make a guitar sound like a piccolo is beyond me.

**6. I Only Said**
This is my favourite tune on the album. More etheral, what's-she-on-about lyrics and the whale noises are back. But the whole thing seems to fit together seemlessly and, date I say, the manipulated, bendy guitars are actauly quite catchy. And "catchy" is not something you usually assocaite with My Bloody Valentine.

**7. Come In Alone**
The trouble with album, if I were to be picky, is that most of the songs are of the same tempo. It's mid-tempo stuff, with tinny but muffled drums throughout. And this track is no exception. Bilinda, the vocalist, goes "indie" on this track, singing in a dull, droll, monotone fashion as though her 1991 credibility depended on it.

**8. Sometimes**
Real grungey guitars and Kevin's vocals start this track off as a ticking acoustic guitar shuffles away in the background before the drums pound in. Except they don't. And that's what My Bloody Valentine do best: they leave out the ingredient that you most expect them to put in, or what a song is most in need of. Clever and infuriating, and nothing that thumping great drums and less murky production wouldn't take care of.

**9. Blown A WIsh**
Similar to I Only Said in layered guitar parts and polite drums. What, in the background sounds like groaning suicidal monks, turns out to be looped guitars that is the trademark of this album.

**10. What You Want**
If you're familiar with early Jesus And Mary Chain, this is for you. Uptempo beats, feedback, tinny drums and more feedback. Possibly the best track on the album purely because it breaks away from the MBV mould of midtempo chuggers. This has attitude, a fast beat, insistent guitars and vocals that you still can't understand. Hurray"

**11. Soon**
Soon is how I came to hear about My Bloody Valentine because it was released as a single back in 1990. It's certainly typical of the album as a whole, although the drums are less muffled in production. Great track to finish off an album that I do return to occasionally if I'm in in the mood.


WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
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Well, nothing really. A third album was planned and shelved. Then, out of the blue, Kevin Shields turned up in Hollywood and can be credited with much of the soundtrack to the Bill Murray vehicle, Lost In Translation. This work earned Shields rave reviews and even an Oscar nomination. Now something of a noisenik du jour in LA, he's being lined up to provide similar feedback-drenched soundscapes for future productions.


LIKE THIS? TRY THESE (OR VICE VERSA)
------------------------------------------------- ----------
Artist: Jesus And Mary Chain
CD: Psychocandy
Year: 1985
Why: Feedback City with a hint of the Beach Boys melody

Artist: Clannad
CD: Best Of
Year: 2000
Why: Maire's ethereal vocals predate this album by 10 years

Artist: Spacemen 3
CD: Drugs To Make Music To Take Drugs To
Year: 1987
Why: Long haired shoegazers first album nestles nicely with Loveless

Artist: Ride
CD: Twisterella EP
Year: 1992
Why: Tuneful take on guitar experimentation


IN A NUTSHELL
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Imagine Maire Brennan of Clannad singing over some early Jesus And Mary Chain feedback-laden indie.


OVERALL
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This is chillout music for those with a worried mind. By turns busy, repetitive, insistent, noisy, annoying and beautiful, it's an album for those who like a challenge.

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