Slowdive – ‘Everything Is Alive’ album review: same atmosphere, more depth from the shoegaze gods
Everyone loves a good comeback story. In an age where everything from Riotfest to TikTok can resurrect the popularity of long-gone music acts, the market for reunions and revivals is more potent than ever. For most, it’s a quick cash grab disguised as a warm wave of nostalgia. Go out, sing the classic songs, take the money and run. There’s nothing wrong with that – everyone’s got to make a living, after all. But of all the classic bands that have recently given it another go, the one who seems most intent on moving forward is British shoegaze gods Slowdive.
When Slowdive first came back together roughly a decade ago, they seemed like they would fall into the standard run of festival appearances and rehashed tracks. Then came a brand new song, ‘Star Roving’, a harder-hitting song that fit well within the new generation of indie rock. By May 2017, the group had a new full-length self-titled album to their name, one that straddled the line between their classic sound and something completely new.
In a wonderfully refreshing twist, Slowdive appears much more interested in electronic textures, post-punk ambience, and gothic sensibilities than they did during their initial run back in the 1990s. It’s a new band with the same people and the same personnel as before, ready to embark on a new journey toward the unknown. As a celebration of that, Slowdive have now released their latest push forward, Everything Is Alive.
Buzzing to life with the dark synth loops of album opener ‘Shanty’, Everything Is Alive spends roughly 40 minutes completely unconcerned about what a “Slowdive” album should be. In place of Britpop guitars, there are droning basslines. Instead of pop melodies, Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell court darker harmonies every time they open their mouths. The hazy atmosphere and woozy open spaces are still there, as are the surprisingly catchy moments that rise to the surface of each composition. But for Slowdive, there’s a new depth that equates to a whole new world.
‘Prayer Remembered’ is Slowdive’s ‘Treefingers’: a five-minute instrumental placed right at the top of the tracklisting in order to show that pop appeal has no place on Everything Is Alive. Instead, it’s all about conjuring up musical Rorschach tests. Just like everyone else currently in indie music, Slowdive believes that there are more possibilities that open up with keyboards and electronics than guitars, but tracks like ‘Alfie’ and ‘Kisses’ still keep the band’s arsenal of six-strings at the ready.
Speaking of, those two tracks are probably the closest that Everything Is Alive comes to the classic Slowdive sound. When the band decides to stretch out on tracks like ‘Andalucia Plays’ and ‘Chained to a Cloud’, it actually seems to nod to the group’s 1995 Pygmalion, where openness and ambience were valuable currency. That album had the misfortune of coming out at the height of Britpop, largely facilitating the band being dropped from Creative Records and pushing them to break up. Had the music world paid proper attention, Slowdive probably could have reached this stage of evolution at least a decade sooner.
‘Andalucia Plays’ is Halstead’s spotlight as a haunted singer-songwriter, unfurling a delicate acoustic folk track that leaves enough space for his bandmates to fill in the spaces with their colourful additions. Meanwhile, ‘Chained to a Cloud’ puts Goswell out front on a new-age electronica track that happens to be the lightest moment on the album. Goswell’s signature delivery is as difficult to decipher as ever, with Halstead occasionally taking over while also getting lost in the atmosphere. It’s a captivating push-and-pull, all while the rest of the band loops endlessly around the same chord structure in a trance-like state.
When ‘The Slab’ pulls you back into the concrete structure of indie rock, it’s a reminder that Slowdive is doing more than sticking to their guns. They’re hearing a whole generation of new artists, taking notes, and deciding that it’s their turn. Instead of copying the newest wave, Slowdive has decided that they can do modern indie rock better. And throughout the eight songs on Everything Is Alive, it’s hard to argue that they’re wrong.
Not at all content with looking in the rearview, Slowdive pull off a major win on Everything Is Alive: a fresh start from a band that is staring down their 35th anniversary. Without fully alienating the fans who got them back together in the first place, Slowdive decided that they wanted something better for those loyal followers and for themselves. Everything Is Alive is as celebratory as its title suggests, even if the darkness that surrounds the band’s music is more potent than ever before. All in all, it puts Slowdive in a completely new light, which is nothing less than a substantial achievement.
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