Loveless (studio album) by My Bloody Valentine

The opening and closing tracks (Only Shallow and Soon) are spectacular but overall I don't like the sound of the album. There's a constant droning guitar in the background of each track that makes it at times almost unlistenable, especially in track 4 (To Here Knows When). You can barely hear anything else. A shame as there's some absolute gold in there that I'm sure I can't hear properly, even through my new Airpods...

Shoegaze blueprint and unmatched masterpiece, on this album gorgeous melodies are mixed with loud, noisy guitars and it works really well together. Almost every song is perfection and album is varied enough to display lots of shoegaze styles.

Ethereal lyrics and very loud instrumentation that blends together to form a wall of noise. It doesn't seem like a combination that works, but it does here. It inspired the shoegaze genre, so it gets A+ for innovation and inspiring other musicians.

I thought it wasnt my cup of tea, but it grew on me pretty quickly. I think they are at their best when they tone it down though. The entire album kind of sounds like a middle ground between a dream and a nightmare.

This record just engulfs you right from the start! You are instantly dragged into this heavy and powerful cloud of noise that suffocates most new listeners. It is only after you have experienced this release a few more times that you truly start to understand and appreciate the musical genius that is present on here. The music is brilliantly composed with the guitars supplying us with this constant whirring sound, such as on sometimes, which can so easily send you into a state of serenity. The guitar work can be quite polarising on here with one half of listeners being instantly turned off from the music due to its overpowering style and the other half completely embracing it and falling in love with getting lost in the wall of noise. The drum work is sensational on here as well with the way it is made to sound far off and like it is in the distance is genius. It acts as a constant and repetitive pattern which is something our mind craves for and is drawn to so with it seeming so far away we are constantly reaching for that repetition while only being dragged further and further into the music. This always blows me away with how they achieved this and whenever I close my eyes and listen to this record I get lost all over again. The vocalists also add an additional edge to the music with the contrast between male and female working very well on here. The female vocal gives us something that stands out against the music making it easy to become attached to it especially with the delicate and beautiful performance she gives. Then there is the male vocal which becomes an extension of the instrumentation, for example on what you want, where it can at times seamlessly blend with the chaotic style they are going for. Overall, the music on here seems disordered and confused but it is anything but that with every moment being carefully put in place to become one of the most intelligent displays of musical genius I have ever heard.

89.55

Complicado traducir en palabras las sensaciones que genera Loveless. Es el Teenage Wasteland de los 90. Es una oda energética de pura vulnerabilidad y euforia. Es un vaivén frenético cuyas ondas conducen inexorablemente a la desolación. Sometimes, la mejor canción del grupo, se siente un power pop retraído, lo más balada a lo que puede llegar el shoegaze, una surrender song, cuando el amor no puede ser correspondido. When You Sleep, una de las mejores del disco, tiene probablemente las letras que mejor pueden inmortalizar el álbum. La distorsión entre cada tema aísla en muchos dispositivos la letra, un toque artístico que sublima la falta de amor. Loveless es probablemente el mejor disco de los años 90, el epítome del shoegaze y uno de los mejores albums de la historia.

97/100

Beyond the myth, this album remains to this day (and will remain) as a considerable influence, an example of sound, attitude, creativity that no Shoegaze band will be able to replace whatever the talent

Kind of freaks me out this album. Definitely different

Many see this as the ultimate shoegaze album and it’s easy to see why. It is one of the most perfect examples of merging vastly opposing sound and textures. The merging of the whirring, motor like instrumentation with the soothing harmonious vocals is fantastic. The infectious choruses hold the songs together fantastically well and, along with the soothing and dreamy vocals, provide a perfect antidote to the chaos of the instrumentation. This album is almost like a drug. It calms you, it soothes you, it makes you go into your own world where everything, just for that moment, is OK. A simply stunning piece of music.

A challenging listen that took me a while to fully appreciate. After a few listens the sonic masterpiece starts to find ways for the melodies to get under your skin, it challenges you to focus your ear in to different elements of sound that usually don't fully engage you. The album forces you to engage and if you let it, it showers you in a warm fuzzy sound that starts to make you think and feel introspectively. It really is one of a kind.

From NotStates 01/21/2022 22:19

took me a bit longer than i'd like to admit to appreciate this album