Slowdive : "Everything is Alive"

The British Shoe - gaze icons are releasing a new album and they packed their synths. Not to be bound by the rules of the sub-genre they help create. Only makes sense that Slowdive should see a ground swell of popularity with the resurgence of shoe-gaze, the facts being they are pound-for-pound a better band than My Bloody Valentine when it comes to just playing their damn instruments. The haze is thick on the first song that finds the vocals buried in the sonic cloud they are drifting in on .It bears the looming intensity of  gray clouds bringing the storm. The second song falls more along the like of an early Mogwai like post-rock, as they back off and let things breathe. 

"alife' is the first song that follows more of a conventional rock structure. The drums pick up the pace and the guitars shimmer into a jangling dance behind them. "Andaluca Plays" is a lazy strummed breeze of Pink Floyd like malaise but without any of the sardonic depth, instead embracing the air it floats on. It is almost folk like in it's intentions. What they do works better when the drums and bass lines are a more integral part holding the songs together , which can heard on "kisses". The provides more function and form. While they are good at creating the more dream like landscapes, the more structured elements make for song that are worth repeat listens. 

The more surreal swathes of atmosphere can be molded into interesting songs, which is what they make the effort to do with the hush croon of "Skin in the Game" that works off an interesting dynamic of becoming more tangible as it drones on. The vocals sit back in the guitars and are the lungs from which the breath is made audible. However the movement that propels "chained to a cloud" is more interesting and a song that I would be more likely to return to. Not that the previous song did not collect interesting sounds, this song just takes them to a place I would visit more.

 "the slab" moves through the haze pretty gracefully though the vocals are more buried than the majority of the songs relegating them to a texture amid the guitar effects. I will give this album a 9, in measuring it up against their classic work, of course it's going to be better than the what most of the bands influenced by them are doing but if you compare it against "Souvlaki" than it might not measure up as well despite the studio experience they have gained since the 90s. However it still delivers what you want from the band and makes for a very pleasing listen.