Slowdive's self-titled 2017 album was a rare comeback album that equalled or possibly even surpassed the band's classic work. Coming 22 years after their previous LP, it was shocking how good Slowdive was — so, even though everything is alive is similar in both sound and quality, it comes as much less of surprise.
These eight songs waft past like a warm breeze, with the near-seven-minute "andalucia plays" evoking the dream folk of side-project Mojave 3, and the arpeggiators anchoring "chained to a cloud" hinting at the synthwave album Neil Halstead had initially planned everything is alive to be. Even when the band pick up the tempo, as on the peppy jangle pop of "kisses," the chiming echo remains sublimely soft-focus. None of it is a revelation, exactly, but it's as cozy and comforting as anything I've heard in ages, cementing Slowdive's status as shoegaze legends whose talent for blurry soundscapes remains undiminished.
(Dead Oceans)These eight songs waft past like a warm breeze, with the near-seven-minute "andalucia plays" evoking the dream folk of side-project Mojave 3, and the arpeggiators anchoring "chained to a cloud" hinting at the synthwave album Neil Halstead had initially planned everything is alive to be. Even when the band pick up the tempo, as on the peppy jangle pop of "kisses," the chiming echo remains sublimely soft-focus. None of it is a revelation, exactly, but it's as cozy and comforting as anything I've heard in ages, cementing Slowdive's status as shoegaze legends whose talent for blurry soundscapes remains undiminished.