SLOWDIVE レコード& CD

Review: Legendary Reading shoegaze band Slowdive had s short but powerful run from 1989 until 1995 (during their first spell) and that included the 5EP. In the same year, it was remixed to perfection by Bandulu and Reload and now it gets reissued on limited hand numbered vinyl. First up, Bandulu stretch the original's heavy minor chords and fatten the track out into a dubby masterclass and then the Reload version from Tom Middleton & Mark Pritchard (better known as Global Communication) is even more impressive. It's a supremely blissed out cut with a slow motion rhythm and futuristic sense of soul cut on 45 rpm but just as suited to 33rpm playback.

Review: It has been said that Slowdive's 5 EP is unlike anything else the band had done by this point in their journey - circa 1993 - and unlike anything they would go on to release. A four-tracker that's largely instrumental, it's arguably their closest venture into full-blown electronica, and given it doesn't sound too far from some of the choral-infused ambient on the release schedule today it's safe to say they pulled the idea off.

Of course it's still Slowdive, masters of shoegaze, and so despite clear differences compared with preceding work and all that followed, there are hallmarks of the band everywhere. Opener 'In Mind' provides a great example of the grand yet quiet atmospheres they're best known for, painting fantastical, emotionally enchanting pictures only visible through your third eye.

Review: Slowdive's second album, Souvlaki, defined a time and sound in rock, helping establish shoegaze as a genre and cementing the English outfit as one of the pre-eminent founding members of that movement. Combining the euphoria of electronic chill with the vastness of classical and songcraft of indie pop, it offered a purity of sound at odds with the often very full and complex instrumentals.

Outside Your Room is an EP full of tracks taken from that record, and as such is exactly what we mean. 'So Tired' feels like an opium dream, scuzzy, unkept, and yet blissful and utterly intoxicating in its own way. 'Alison' opens the scoring on a more anthemic note, vocals gently riding the waves of melody beneath. 'Souvlaki Space Station' is all build with absolutely no let off from its sparse but commanding atmospherics, while 'Moussaka Chaos' turns those elements around to rethink the entire arrangement. Exquisite stuff.

Review: It's 1991 and all looks alarming right with the world - little did we know what was coming a few decades later. Nevertheless, the Berlin Wall has already fallen, uniting East and West, and Slowdive have been drumming up some serious support by way of that self-titled EP and sequel, Morningrise. Then they dropped Just For A Day, the debut album, and cemented their place in shoegaze ambient rock 'n' roll history.

Holding Our Breath is both a collector's item reissue, which originally arrived slightly ahead of that first full album, and an exceptional example of how newcomers can be blown away by the euphoria and strange opiate intensity of this band after hearing only a handful of tracks. Comprising 'Catch The Breeze', 'Golden Hair', 'Shine' and 'Albatross', everything soars, glides, ebbs and flows its way through stunning, epic soundscapes that are somehow loud and quiet.

Review: 'Morningrise' is considered by many to be the archetypal shoegaze track. It's certainly Slowdive's ultimate track, a monumental helping of searing riff echoes, haunting white noise and hushed, floating vocals. It's more than enough to send a chill down your spine and leave hairs standing on end even without the other two songs offering support on this timeless EP.

All three tracks are taken from the band's double disc debut, Just For A Day, which itself easily ranks among the finest albums of the early-1990s. In contrast to the opener, 'She Calls' reveals a slightly tougher, more distorted take on things, with more than a subtle hint of melancholia in the air, while 'Losing Today' brings meditative moods to finish the triptych on a deep and brooding cinematic note.

Review: When it was initially released three decades ago in the summer of 1990, Slowdive's eponymous debut EP was heralded as an instant shoegaze classic: a drowsy, dreamy collection of hazy wall-of-sound, reverb-drenched songs that put the Reading band right at the heart of a growing musical movement. As this 30th anniversary reissue proves, it remains a fine collection of cuts. While lead cut 'Slowdive', a more orthodox fusion of shoegaze, dream-pop and indie-rock, was the one that chimed with listeners at the time, it's the two-part soundscape 'Avalyn' - and in particular the epic 'Avalyn II' - that resonates loudest in the 21st century. The latter track is so good that it's worth buying the EP just to get your hands on it.