After 22 years of waiting (well more like five since I have started listening to Loveless) I was skeptical when My Bloody Valentine’s Facebook page announced that the album was to be released that night. I, along with countless other fans who were alive and cognizant at the time of the their 1991 album had been thrown for a loop with countless interviews and announcements from MBV’s de facto leader, Kevin Shields. There’s even a timeline of all his “release announcements, check for yourself.
Yet I found myself jamming Apple + R on the keyboard, refreshing the pages for news, looking into forums, and later that night, after a internet meltdown, I had the album on my files.
The hype and the wait subsided, and there came a fear: Will the album prove as good as Loveless, or Isn’t Anything? Will the meticulous nature of Kevin Shields pay off?
mbv presents a timeline of the band’s work, and their transition through various genres. The first third of the album takes off where Loveless ended. “She Found Now”drips with guitar textures, the first track has a very 90s shoegaze feel, peeling away the skepticism of fans of a disastrous first listen.
After a breathtaking first third, mbv reverts back to pre-Butcher sounds. Despite the band’s status as shoegaze pioneers, they always considered themselves a pop band, evident in their first EPs. “New You” takes notes from Sunny Sundae Smile, Blinda Butcher’s vocals shining, much stronger than it’s predecessor.
The last third, at least from my listens, is where I express hesitation in giving a strong rating in favor of this release. “In Another Way,” “Nothing Is,” and “Wonder 2” show the future of this band, and its accessibility to different genres. But the last third is to put bluntly, quite weird and sometimes out of place looking back at not just this release, but their whole history. In the last third, Shields trades guitars for a more experimental electronic sound of drum machines.
Thats were the fear and the disagreement among fans begin. I’m certain that I will change my rating multiple times throughout my listens. Despite this fear and apprehension though, mbv’s seductive nature pulls you in, and you find yourself sinking. The unbelievable as become a reality, and for most of us, we have still yet to process it all.
89/100
