I got my hands on this album about two years ago. I bought the CD with great expectations that it would turn out to be one of the best shoegazing album. However when I put in into the CD player, I was like "huh?". The music sounded like as if the CD was warped, sounded horrible to me back then. Perhaps I was expecting the noise-popping songs like Jesus and Mary Chain. However, the only song I like was Sometimes which I've previously heard in the movie Lost In Translation. Okay... I didn't get it.
Because I wanted to do shoegaze music for the MSTU2000 assignment, I decided to revisit Loveless again. I've done some research for the album as well. The album was released in 1991, three years after their first album release. They have spent two and a half year in studio, trying to perfecting the shoegazing sound with Loveless. However, the long period time of recording cost their label, Creation almost £140,000 which was a tremendous amount of money for recording a indie album. If Kevin Shields would put on so much time and energy to perfect the sound, it's gotta be good right?
Yes, it's fantastic! Unlike their aggressive first album and earlier EPs, this album overall presents a dreamy tone. It's definitely a concept album. Even though different songs have different melody and approach, all the songs were encircled with the thick wall-of-sounds. From my listening experience, if you listen to the album carelessly you will find the album plainly loud and full of weird noises. But if you pay more attentions to the songs, they distinguish from one another and are distinguished. Yet, the whole album flows like a lava stream from one track to another, subsuming everything in the mix into its blissful roar. Even the voices were almost indistinguishable; they melted into the lava stream. Thus, the lyrics are not so important. This is a very different approach to normal rock music. For this aspect, this album is very experimental but created its own aesthetic that later defined the shoegaze sound. To me, every track is great. I think I get it now, still this is not an album for everyone. For the shoegazer kids, this is always their best album, now I know why.
This album was released in 2008. It is one of my favourite newly-released shoegaze record. I went to their gig in March this year. Their live sounds truly amazing, so beautiful and energetic. I personally think M83 was one of few bands who could really follow the aesthetic soundscape of My Bloody Valentine. At the same time, M83 also created sounds that is unique to M83. Like electronic beats, atmospheric synth, cinemaic dialogues, floating ambience. Unlike their previous albums, Saturdays = Youth has more pop tunes that turn out to be very fresh and alluring. I can play this album for hours and never get sick of it. Plus, their videos were made beautifully as well. What a beautiful band!
M83 - We Own The Sky
M83 - Graveyard Girl
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