My Bloody Valentine - m b v LP

Label: Domino

Standard edition.

In the year 2013, 1991's Loveless, as well as its 1988 predecessor Isn't Anything, had already been claimed as two of the finest albums ever produced within the shoegaze movement and beyond. The legacy of My Bloody Valentine had been left to gestate for many years, and murmurs of a third record circulated, proliferated then vanished once again. It seemed as though the group would remain as elusive legends, locked in the studio with producer and guitarist Kevin Shields obsessively tweaking the knobs of his pedalboard for the rest of time.

Then, out of the blue, came m b v, and despite the gulf of years, My Bloody Valentine were emerging back into a world over which they still held dominion. The opening guitar sweeps and windswept melody of "She Found Now" re-enters the amniotic sound-world of Loveless without redrawing its boundaries, billowing with a scorched sweetness carrying itself across to the noise monsoon of "Who Sees You." My Bloody Valentine sound mighty and powerful even when they're being playful, the unbreachable wall of enveloping noise on "Wonder 2" sounding like they've run the pedals through a jet engine.

There's no doubt that perfectionist Shields still hears its faults, but m b v is about as perfect a shoegaze record as there is, and a galaxy-brained statement for the outer limits of psychedelic music.