Slowdive - brighter, 1991

“one of the lushest and most layered sounds of the shoegazer movement.”

Slowdive - forty days, 1993

"In the past I always skipped that song. I did not like this slightly out-of-tune intro and therefore only very rarely listened further into the song. But recently at their Hamburg gig I was blown away from that song. It was so dreamy yet so sad. For the rest of the past week I almost exclusively listened to that very song when I was listening to music. I delved into the meaning of the song and learned about its origins. It broke my heart to think about how painful it must have been for Rachel and Neil to have to constantly spend time together after their breakup. Somehow I've rarely felt so intense about a song. When I went through a bad breakup many years ago, I felt the exact same feelings that come back now when I listen to "40 Days." But strangely enough, I can't stop listening to this song."

Slowdive - when the sun hits, 1993

"When the Sun Hits" is a complex and evocative song that captures the essence of the shoegaze sound. It's a song that rewards repeated listening and invites the listener to create their own interpretation of its meaning."

Slowdive - some velvet morning cover, 1993

"Some Velvet Morning" is a song written by Lee Hazlewood and originally recorded by Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra in late 1967. It first appeared on Sinatra's album Movin' with Nancy, the soundtrack to her 1967 television special of the same name, which also featured a performance of the song. It was subsequently released as a single before appearing on the 1968 album Nancy & Lee."

Slowdive - missing you, 1993

"Despite its members’ youthfulness – averaging 19 years of age when they signed to Creation Records in 1990 – Slowdive arrived late to the scene eventually referred to derisively in the British music press as shoegaze. In many ways, the five-piece outfit was victims of circumstance. Following the excesses of My Bloody Valentine’s monumental Loveless (1991), which nearly bankrupted Creation, perceptions of the still-nascent genre turned a corner and initial champions turned their backs on the mop-topped gloom rockers. As part of Creation’s stable of early ‘90s dream-poppers, Slowdive managed only two LPs and a handful of EPs as a full band before the critical pushback against shoegaze and fickle fans effectively killed any chances at longevity."

Slowdive - country rain, 1993

"They've found a way to be quiet, moving, and aggressive simultaneously, mixing trance-like beauty with the deepest delayed guitar sounds around, a sound at once relaxing, soothing, and exciting, and most of all harshly beautiful."

Slowdive - don't know why, 2017

"It’s strange to call Slowdive a comeback album, because it seems so sure of itself. Instead, it feels like a completely logical next step in their discography. The record fits snugly inside the band’s canon, so much so that it makes the 22 years since Pygmalion all the more difficult to believe. The band have delivered a fresh dream-pop sound that is still uniquely Slowdive. Perhaps they’re fortunate that their return does not follow their magnum opus, but Slowdive delivers nearly everything their fans desire in a return: familiarity, innovation, and vast atmospheres to get lost in."

Slowdive - no longer making time, 2017

"There is the occasional moment when the mix seems a little off, most notably the tinny drums on "No Longer Making Time," but mostly the album delivers exactly what a Slowdive fan would want. Lots of songs to dream to (the ethereal, Cocteau Twins-sounding "Don't Know Why," the calming "Sugar for the Pill"), get lost in (the noisy "Go Get It"), and swoon along with (the positively dreamy pop song "Everyone Knows")."

Slowdive - slomo, 2017

"The way they blurred the clear vocal and instrumental is intriguing. Sometimes I feel like dream pop is a way to echo your voice in the brain and repetitively make you believe whatever your brain says is your heart says. I think this song is quite a straightforward one, expressing the longing for love and seeking tenderness. The way Slomo addresses the universal emotions is nothing dramatically different but quite convincing."

Slowdive - catch the breeze, 1991

"Just for a Day is Slowdive's first album, and it shows; when one listens to the magnificent sound of Souvlaki or the brilliant experimentation of Pygmalion, it becomes clear that Just for a Day was only a step toward the greatness they would later achieve."

Slowdive - skin in the game, 2023

"Neil Halstead’s melancholic vocals gently blend with the acoustic and electric guitars in “Skin in the Game,” embodying Slowdive’s ethereal and introspective style. While the haunting melodies and powerful harmonies, along with the cryptic lyrics, convey the importance of honest communication and genuine connections for profound relationships and inner satisfaction."

Slowdive - the slab, 2023

"This latest track “the slab” harkens back to early Slowdive, with an oceanic or river-like current to the melody. The song is as layered as it is deep, reminiscent of “Avalyn” and singles from the Just For a Day era like “Catch the Breeze,” as well as a touch of the cacophony of “Souvlaki Space Station.” The vocals from both Rachel Goswell and Neil Halstead here are used as their own sparse accents and instrumentation, drowning themselves within a sea of delay and reverb. Halstead describes “the slab” as “the heaviest on the record,” adding that the band “wanted it to feel very dense.” In this Slowdive succeeds."

Slowdive - alife, 2023

"There are trademark washes of guitar noise and echo, and songs that judiciously sculpt Rachel Goswell and Neil Halstead’s quiet voices on the precipice between melancholy and ecstasy."

Slowdive - chained to a cloud, 2023

"A group characterized as a staple shoegaze band, Slowdive has long been praised for their dreamy, ambient, fuzzy and lively sound that blasts you into outer space. Their latest album, everything is alive, pays homage to their previous works but with a refined and respected mannerism. With this record, the band takes a step back from the high-gain, heavily distorted guitars and approaches the listener with an airier sound. This was a refreshing aspect of this album in general, but their new touches are especially prevalent on “chained to a cloud.” While I was immediately drawn in by the overall production and ambiance of the song, what interested me further were the emotional lyrics and build that effectively created a mood of anticipation. It is one thing to have a well-produced, beautiful song, but it is another thing to create one that provokes emotion in the listener. This provided a very three-dimensional outlook within the song."

Slowdive - alison live, 2017

“Alison” is the one track that I can honestly say that I’ve always loved from the album. As an opener, it was a hard one to move past and I rarely did. The guitars jangle and waver, a shimmering of light highlighting millions of tiny specks of dust, lifted and disrupted ever so gently by a passing breeze, the same that caused flutters in the gossamer curtains of sound. Drums are far off in the distance and deep down in the mix, like a harrowing memory. The reverb is like a third person in the room, pushing together the lilting voices of Halstead and Goswell, even as it as ripping them apart. “Alison” could be anyone who’s ever broken your heart, a smoker’s cough and an ashtray overflowing with butts, a hangover and a dozen empty merlot bottles."

Slowdive - machine gun, 1994

"I think the reason Souvlaki enjoys such acclaim and reach beyond the confines of the shoegaze canon is that, shit damn, there is such a palpable of emotional gravity here. The album’s background story as an Halstead and Goswell’s breakup record is well-established, and while the shockwaves of this are borderline naked at points (“Here She Comes”, “Dagger”, “40 Days”, “Melon Yellow”) and blearily nostalgic at others (“Altogether”), they add a melancholic undertone to the album’s radiant moments (“When the Sun Hits”, “Machine Gun”, “Souvlaki Space Stations”) and underscore “Alison” being far more depressive opiate bender than sexed-up bedroom glow (no comment on which of the two is more relatable for your average dreamgaze fan). The mood – not just the mood, the scene – here is so richly fleshed out, so much more than the sum of the album’s parts that practically every level of its craft feeds into a deeper basis for connection – and if that isn’t something you appreciate in a classic record, music ain’t for you."

Slowdive - kisses, 2023

"It is comically easy to make a passable shoegaze song with the right pedals and proper settings, but writing a great shoegaze song remains fiendishly difficult. Slowdive remain masters at this evanescent art. “Kisses,” the lead single to their upcoming album Everything Is Alive, and their first new music since 2017’s self-titled, is more delicate than anything on that album, as well as more openly romantic."

Slowdive - star roving, 2017

"Star Roving" is unlike anything Slowdive have released before, first of all it's furiously fast which screams hit - hit in the shoegazing sense, think "Vapour Trail", "Soon", "When the Sun Hits".

Slowdive - shanty, 2023

"Songs such as “Alife,” “Kisses,” and “The Slab” permeate the body with a propulsion several gears beyond the group’s 1993 shoegaze Mount Rushmore album Souvlaki, as Halstead and Goswell’s intertwined vocals float above, between, and beyond cascades of effects-drenched guitars, throbbing bass, and washes of synths. Elsewhere, “Skin in the Game” conjures a woozy, Strokes/Cocteau Twins fever dream that’s disorienting in a way with little precedent in the Slowdive catalog. while “Shanty” is content to build the tension of its dark, arpeggio-driven groove for several minutes without words."

Slowdive - blue skied an clear, 1995

"With a cascading guitar sound and ethereal vocals, Slowdive’s sonic debt to Cocteau Twins is instantly apparent, though they took the building blocks and made it their own. The band are admitted fans, especially guitarist Christian Savill who tells us his first exposure was single “Pearly Dewdrops Drops” which changed his life."