MY BLOODY VALENTINE – ISN’T EVERYTHING (CREATION RECORDS)
Opening with drums that sound like a person pounding on a door Isn’t Everything begins sounding like it is being played backwards as large movements of sound grind against a gorgeous series of declarations and suggestions with all in all gives off the impression that the band is floating. The pay off is immediate with this record.
It is often forgotten just how delicate and subtle My Bloody Valentine were able to be but sonically and spoken. The dream like qualities that emit from the sound of this record feel unique and plausible containing an originality and generous genuity seldom found in other bands of the noise or even post-rock ilk. There was a wait/weight but you can’t help but concede it was worth it.
The sheer name of the album suggests some kind of resented resignation, suggesting boredom and some kind of conclusion that everything is the same, everything has been done. Likewise coupled with the band’s name and identity it serves to take some heat off the expectations of the band themselves as a potentially defacing and self depreciating safety/security defence measure.
The hinted/suggested vulnerable continues as a theme with the lovelorn “Cupid Comes” which delivers the first real human, non ugly moment of the record. Three songs in here comes the first hook of the day as on a rare occasion the lyric content of the songwriting process takes precedent over the sonic exploration (racket).
Following closely behind comes “(When You Wake) You’re Still In A Dream” which is as fast paced as a My Bloody Valentine song gets, again serving/dishing out clear vocals and clear intentions, benefiting from strangely huge riffs and hooks. As the versus leaving the song hanging in the air there is a youthful optimism attached to proceedings with invariably falls apart along with the song towards the climax.
“No More Sorry” and “All I Need” then display the suffocating sonically driven side of the band’s act and does not necessarily serve them or this record well.
It is surprising to note just how “indie” the band sounds on this record when they are at their most coherent, something that would most definitely be missing by the time they came to producing/releasing Loveless. In many ways these are the songs that make Isn’t Everything the exciting proposition that it is and is able to steer the listener away from Loveless and back to this album.
Of all the songs on display it is “Nothing Much To Lose” that feels as if it has most to offer these days working as something of a happy compromise and managing most successfully on this record to blend the poppier moments with the more jagged daggers of noise workouts.
This is a record I could foist upon/onto anybody.
Thesaurus moment: composite.
My Bloody Valentine
Opening with drums that sound like a person pounding on a door Isn’t Everything begins sounding like it is being played backwards as large movements of sound grind against a gorgeous series of declarations and suggestions with all in all gives off the impression that the band is floating. The pay off is immediate with this record.
It is often forgotten just how delicate and subtle My Bloody Valentine were able to be but sonically and spoken. The dream like qualities that emit from the sound of this record feel unique and plausible containing an originality and generous genuity seldom found in other bands of the noise or even post-rock ilk. There was a wait/weight but you can’t help but concede it was worth it.
The sheer name of the album suggests some kind of resented resignation, suggesting boredom and some kind of conclusion that everything is the same, everything has been done. Likewise coupled with the band’s name and identity it serves to take some heat off the expectations of the band themselves as a potentially defacing and self depreciating safety/security defence measure.
The hinted/suggested vulnerable continues as a theme with the lovelorn “Cupid Comes” which delivers the first real human, non ugly moment of the record. Three songs in here comes the first hook of the day as on a rare occasion the lyric content of the songwriting process takes precedent over the sonic exploration (racket).
Following closely behind comes “(When You Wake) You’re Still In A Dream” which is as fast paced as a My Bloody Valentine song gets, again serving/dishing out clear vocals and clear intentions, benefiting from strangely huge riffs and hooks. As the versus leaving the song hanging in the air there is a youthful optimism attached to proceedings with invariably falls apart along with the song towards the climax.
“No More Sorry” and “All I Need” then display the suffocating sonically driven side of the band’s act and does not necessarily serve them or this record well.
It is surprising to note just how “indie” the band sounds on this record when they are at their most coherent, something that would most definitely be missing by the time they came to producing/releasing Loveless. In many ways these are the songs that make Isn’t Everything the exciting proposition that it is and is able to steer the listener away from Loveless and back to this album.
Of all the songs on display it is “Nothing Much To Lose” that feels as if it has most to offer these days working as something of a happy compromise and managing most successfully on this record to blend the poppier moments with the more jagged daggers of noise workouts.
This is a record I could foist upon/onto anybody.
Thesaurus moment: composite.
My Bloody Valentine
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