Back in 2014 the shoegaze band Slowdive reunited for live dates and continued on to record their fourth album, the self-titled Slowdive. Since hearing a b-side on a random blog years ago, Slowdive for me have been on the longlist of bands to check out after missing them the first time around. So, I started backwards with the latest release, one that sound tracked many late summer walks, with an eye on collecting their older albums.
The album was preceded early in the new year with the joyous single “Star Roving”. “Emma flies a kite, said she’s feeling love for everyone tonight”. Second single is the quieter, more ethereal “Sugar for the Pill”. The chorus of “Don’t Know Why” is pure Cocteau Twins, full of beautiful yet unintelligible lyrics and soundscapes.
Where Slowdive the album starts to drag is on the very dull penultimate track “Go Get It” and album closer “Falling Ashes” would work better as a concise three-minute instrumental instead of the eight-minute slog it can be. Overall, this is the sound of grown up and mature indie shoegazers. Other bands that have reunited in the past few years should be so lucky to have recorded something as good as what Slowdive has done here.
8/10
Spoon’s eighth studio album, Hot Thoughts, is the one that broke this website! I was on a roll with reviews and then hit this one and found myself struggling on what to say or write about… for several weeks that turned into months. There’s plenty of good tracks here – the title track could fill an indie dancefloor in seconds, “First Caress” features a piano that sounds like it’s falling down the stairs, while “Shotgun” packs a mighty punch.
he Manchester band has gone through a few changes in the past few years. Singer Guy Garvin made the transatlantic move to New York a few years ago before getting married and the band have parted ways with drummer Richard Jupp. The band’s seventh studio release and first since 2014 continues their Oasis meets Coldplay meets Radiohead meets The Doves sound – introspection and a bit melancholy with a touch of the anthemic.
After moving to London from her native North Wales, Kelly Lee Owens interned at XL Records and worked at trendy record shops across the city. A few years ago, she began contributing vocals to friend’s releases before moving on to creating her tracks as well as a Jenny Hval remix for “Kingsize”. Already in 2017 Owens snagged our coveted favourite song of the week spot a few months ago for “Anxi.”(!!) and the full self-titled album does not disappoint.
My relationship with singer James Mercer has been an off/on again one. I sat way at the back and talked with mates through The Shins set at the Austin City Limits Festival in 2006. I really liked Wincing the Night Away, missed the first Broken Bells album, wasn’t too fussed about the second, and never got around to checking out Port of Morrow. However, I did jump on Heartworms a few months ago, ignoring the horrendous cover artwork but really enjoying this 
