Recently, I wrote about band reunions….Here’s one that is quite intriguing….
The recent reunion of My Bloody Valentine for the benefit of playing concerts has also stoked hopes for a reunion in the recording studio as well….MBV’s last CD LOVELESS is considered by many (including myself) to be a stand alone seminal piece of music that is completely original and magnificently inscrutable….It exists on a different level from most music….It is music not the way indie pop guitar rock is music but the way Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is music….The wash of sound comes in movements not what one would normally classify as a song.
It sounds like nothing you’ve ever heard although there have been many imitators (The Smashing Pumpkins owe their whole flimsy career to MBV and LOVELESS)….The hum of guitars and all the sounds they make well, actually just the sheer number of them overdubbed (50 alone on TO HERE KNOWS WHEN I recall reading) creates a symphonic power that is otherworldly, powerful, hallucinatory….Very few cd’s clear a room of unsuspecting guests better than LOVELESS.
However, LOVELESS is also a beautiful record and there are melodies that appear out of nowhere and grab you by the throat….The below the mix vocals deadpan and very indie in a European way are perfect for the arrangements….Bob Mould, himself no stranger to the guitar as a wall of sound, once compared LOVELESS to PET SOUNDS and I can kind of see that….The studio creates a complete environment wallpapering over every inch of space with sound.
Since LOVELESS came out in 1991, there has been a long wait for new material as well as a lawsuit brought by their record company, abortive recording sessions, and rumors of MBV leader Kevin Shields having some sort of mental breakdown which if true one could imagine hearing evidence of in the music.
LOVELESS is clearly one of the greatest pieces of music of any genre I have ever heard….Could their current tour be a precursor for lightning striking twice?
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