A reminiscence of the sea & Slowdive-Slowdive (2016) Album Review

Into my dream a vast sadness creeps

within my heart a fleeting reminiscence scintillates

into each other’s life we seek consolation yet we always fail

And once again we turn to the familiar tidings

Why must we leave our younger selves behind

Abandon our shadows on the white and yellow sand

Until they wash away, away to the pale

From the sea to the land beyond

For as long as I can remember, ocean is always there. It was, is, and still will be there, outside the windows of my childhood house. It still will be behind those tall buildings and clouds, in the other side of the city, where the sky is clear. It still will be tiding up until the first foamy end of the wave submerge my toes and carry away the sand that’s around my foot, until it makes me feel like a castle standing on a sand-made peninsula. It still will be there, in the dark, yet omniscient and shows itself when the neon light sometime shine upon it. It still will be there, going into my tiny head when I dream of the things unchanged.

Its quite hard to put into words what the ocean meant to us. It was there. It did not give surprises and unprecedented awakenings, like it did to many people who did not live close to it. It did not give consolations because it always raises more questions instead of answering. It was up to ourselves to answer them, and it came to me sometime ago that the sea beyond is just part of us, nothing more. It stayed there so that we don’t feel anything and feel so much things all at the same time, when we stare into its unintelligible touching with the sky.

When I listened to Slowdive’s synonymous album, the British seaside, the melancholy and the young people whose hearts beat with them came to me. The first song, Slomo created such a beautiful atmosphere that I should quote a Youtube comment: “…so beautiful. With shoe gaze you could simply pile up beauty without worrying about it.” And if there were such a dream that embodies the spirits of this song, I would dream that I could dream this dream. It is hard to tell what instrument and amps (Of course that is always true for shoe gaze) used and how exactly they achieved such a vivid dreamy vibe with it, but it just does not matter. The echo, the noise, the guitar, the voice, are they even there? Are they real? You get lost in the music immediately and that is in my mind the most beautiful thing of it.

Star Roving is most evocative and obviously also faster. It is a stronger note on the aforementioned beating hearts aspect of these British young folks, and the song continues from Slomo but also extends it. It extends the guitar, the atmosphere, but the melody changes gradually and ease you into a higher energy level all the while still adding to the beauty.

Don’t know why IMO falls a bit short in terms of the “extending” I said, and it could feel almost kind of abrupt as you noticeably acknowledge the change of pace at the start. However, like a ocean that shifts your focus from within to outside and to within again, you could certainly feel that a similar shift in the theme from the outside — dream, to inside — heart takes place here. It is a good song at that.

Sugar for the Pill is the probably the takeaway song from this album, with a more prominent vocal part and catchy melody. But, arguably it also does not lack anything else either. The sections of the song divide into several, with each one preceding does something that lead to the next with stunningly continuity. To elaborate, the build up of emotions in this song is superbly amazing and every time I listen to this I could not but feel it.

Everyone knows shoots your heart like jumping into a dream without knowing how you got there. The use of percussion throughout the whole album is meticulously planned, as each drum is tuned to serve the song instead of leading it. Here, though, the leading snare drum provides a fresh breath of wind to me and the heavy amp that follows then proceed to construct the center feel that is heavier, grittier and more emotional. The song echoes with the general feel of Star Roving and feels like a stop for these two songs in the end.

Then we move on to the rest three songs in the album. Slowdive added something even dreamier in No Longer Making Time and Go Get It by shapeshifting into a pipe-smoking old captain who seems to be telling you stories and singing sea shanties, and everybody’s all sitting in the white sands, watching the early night comes while stars rise very, very slowly in the sky.

Falling Ashes opens with piano, and brings everything to a scenic, blue end. The Gregorian-Chant-like vocal by both Rachel Roswell and (Insert name here) has a certain folk music feel that fits very well here. This song is one that is out of line with the rest of the album in form, but not in spirits.

It is a master-crafted album that consolidates very, very numerous complicated amp-using and creative ideas into a dense, melancholy-inducing treasure.