M B V

I can't believe this album came out so far back into the year. I meant to write about it when it was first released but I guess I was just too damn busy listening to it. Honestly, I didn't have any doubt it'd be anything less than good, but I didn't know it'd be great; it sounds like a culmination of everything they've done so far, and then some on top. It needs writing about.

According to Shields and company, the songs have been developing since right after their now-classic album Loveless. Some of the material is brand new, some is an amalgam of two decades of work, and one thing that really surprised me is just how natural it all sounds. It's just MBV plain and simple, perhaps leaning towards traditional effects more than Loveless and certainly less rocking than Isn't Anything, but they've found a happy medium that has hopefully sated the appetite of their rabid fans after all this time. In places it appears to have settled into a quiet little groove, some of which is not unlike Stereolab's more subdued tracks; and then suddenly it'll kick you right in the mind with harsh wah-wah guitar or 3 minutes of a two second loop (which is actually better than it sounds on paper). Kevin's songs are more complex than those on Loveless, which was abundant with what he described as having "more in common with folk-blues music [...] just a verse and an instrumental passage, circular", as opposed to the non-linear song structures found on m b v, which often find themselves shifting in and out of different loops and patterns, sometimes getting into deep repetition towards the end of the track, which is far from tedious; these tracks tend to be the most involving and addictive of the bunch. Exemplifying this is Only Tomorrow, a fuzzed-out, pulsing song with brilliantly dreamy vocals and a coda half the length of the actual song.

As always, the guitar work is sublime. Nobody plays it like Kevin, and although he's not pushing the boat out any further than on Loveless (does he need to?), he shows variety within his niche on this album, perhaps even more than the two preceding ones. The opening track She Found Now features some of his most subtle and wonderful work yet, and as stated by those who went to their most recent tour shows, even live he gets every note and sound just right. And, as with the other two, there is an overall sound that connects the album. Isn't Anything was particularly raw sounding, not unusual for any band's earlier albums, but even then it had an ethereal feel, highlighted by Kevin and Bilinda's vocals. The music of Loveless sounded nothing like any music of this time or any other time. m b v is more rooted in the real world, similar to Isn't Anything in that sense, but is also largely more meditative than groggily dreamy. I've considered writing a track-by-track review for the album but I think that's selling the album short, because this is more than a great collection of songs, unified by a sound; it's an experience. The first time I heard the album I had to dedicate the correct time to it, because this isn't do-stuff-around-the-house music, it contains far too much detail for that.

You can't discuss this album, though, without at least giving an honourable mention to the track 'New You'. Similar in feel to Only Tomorrow, and having a similar coda, New You is apparently quite a fresh track in comparison to some of the others on the album, not even having a set name in their setlist until after the album's release. It's a track that has stuck with me, particularly in the vocals, which are among Bilinda's most endearing and beautiful ever. They layer up more and more as the song progresses, different little inflections each time. If this song is anything to go by as a 'new' My Bloody Valentine track, I'm certainly looking forward to the next album. Well, whenever that is...

The last few tracks on the album represent MBV's harsher and denser side; In Another Way has heavy drum-and-bass inspired drums and a very harsh guitar sound, and is one of the more memorable tracks in my mind, and Nothing Is seems like Kevin Shields is purposefully trying to divide his fans on whether the track is brilliant or bollocks; I'd say probably somewhere between the two. My initial reaction was along the lines of "What a waste of a track", but on closer inspection it's actually more detailed than it seems on the surface, with natural and organic volume swells and ever so slight tempo increases giving it some actual depth, and it has become an essential part of the album to me. And that's what the band has once again achieved: an album with no real chaff. Even the tracks that sound more like filler (Nothing Is, and Touched on Loveless) are representative of what they've achieved sound and texture-wise with each release, and thus have become indispensable to fans. Which brings me to one of MBV's true achievements (at least the MBV we know starting around the time Kevin Shields became their centre): not having a single bad track. This is undoubtedly due to Shields' borderline insane perfectionism, which is well documented around the Loveless era. If it's not up to his standards, we won't get to hear it. This is probably why the wait for m b v was so worth it: we get a true representation of one of our favourite bands both as they are now, and also, as ever, at their peak.