Everything stays different on the fifth album of the shoegaze heroes.
The best thing about Slowdive is that musically they play in a league of their own that the smallest sound changes seem like a revolution. Or to put it another way: The Brits are so original that they wouldn’t get bored even if they hadn’t changed anything musically in their previous work (from 1989 to 1995 and then again from 2014).
Also on EVERYTHING IS ALIVE, the fifth album by the band around Rachel Goswell and Neil Halstead, the changes are on the microscopic level. The characteristic sound of a modular synthesizer can be heard in the background of some songs. The remnants of Halstead’s idea of making an album with minimal electronics, but rejected by the grassroots band.
Otherwise, much remains the same at Slowdive. This irresistible mixture of pounding shogeaze hall guitars, dream pop and slo-core that nobody can imitate. And songs that draw their strength from their atmosphere and not from superficially displayed emotionality.