Souvlaki - Slowdive (1993)

Ideated From: A fun article on “essential winter albums” on Treble. Even though winter is almost over, I’ve cued them up for the next few days.

I listened to a lot of rock music in the early 90s, but this the whole shoegaze / dreampop thing didn’t resonate with me. There were some artists I liked, Curve and My Bloody Valentine among them, but I never went down that rabbithole into the huge number of bands that were offering that sound.

There are lots of corners of the world of music that if you got into them at the right moment (when the scene was burgeoning, or when you were in an impressionable place in your life) then it sticks with you forever. It’s why I still listen to Ratt every once in a while, and why I’ll never not love the music of Bob Mould. But I missed this train, and I didn’t find a way to hop on late.

The ideas here are cool. build up layers of guitar and reverb until there’s no space left, then let it howl its way into your brain. It’s kind of a brasher version of Brian Eno, or a lower-tech version of a lot of more electronic music. But the palette is kind of limited. That’s a problem with 90s rock in general, I think, before the age of digital effects and recording. But it seems acute where it bumps up against non-rock compositional methods like this. This is a sonically bold band that’s just limited by the tech they had available at the time.

Tracks I liked:

Soulvaki Space Station - A slow builder that sounds distinct from the rest of the record

When The Sun Hits - nice harmonics