No Filler Music Podcast - Rise of the Shoegazing Phoenix: Slowdive's 2017 Self-Titled Return

Episode Date: September 12, 2022

Once again we cover shoegaze pioneers Slowdive. We chat about their triumphant return with their 2017 self-titled release that proved they still had a place at the head of the table. Tracklist: Star Rover Slomo Don't Know Why Go Get It No Filler is part of the Pantheon Podcast network. Special thanks to Better Help and AKG for sponsoring this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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And welcome to No Filler. The music podcast dedicated to sharing the often overheard, wait what? Damn dude. I am rusty. the often overlooked hidden gems that fill the space between the singles on our favorite records. My name is Quentin. I've got my brother Travis with me, as always. And this is not a pre-recorded episode that we just had in the wing for you. I am back, my friend. And yeah, I'm going to say that botched intro, I'm going to chalk that up to to like a sleep maybe?

I mean, what's your sleep like these days? Are you getting a good amount? I'm feeling pretty good. Are we averaging four hours? I'd say five to six restful hours. It's not too bad. I mean, really? It's not bad, dude.

Yeah, so I'm a new dad. Got myself a little boy. His name's Ronan. Like two weeks in? Two and a half weeks? He is 18 days old today. 18 days old. So yeah, Q, you reached out to me.

You said you could spare a couple hours. And so here we are. We got the mics on. This might be a short episode. We're just going to jump right into tunes with this band. And you said, let's talk about slow dive. And we did an episode on slow dive at some point, right? Yeah, I looked into it.

It was back in August 2019. We did them as a sidetrack. Oh, my God. Dude, three years ago? Holy moly. Three years ago, we covered. Suvlocky Space Station. Okay.

So that might have been like the first time that we started to talk about shoegaze, like in a more, you know, devoted episode to it, right? Because, I mean, I know that we sort of eased our way into it as far as like the history of no filler and shoegaze. Like, it's just been increasing, like the amount of times we mention and talk about shoe gaze, you know what I mean? It just goes up and up, right? So this might have been right around that time when, you know, we did My Bloody Valentine.

We did like the obscure shoe gaze episode. We did our Doomgays episode. And I feel like we've just been sort of obsessed with Shugays ever since, you know? Yeah. So we did, I think we kicked off our first batch of ShoeGays episodes with Slow Dive. Yeah. And then it was My Bloody Valentine back in 2019. And that was it, dude.

Yeah. So last year was when we came back to it. And then we've just been in the 90s ever since, I think, pretty much. Yeah, we continue to find our way back to Shoegays. We can't escape it. Yeah. So with this episode, we're just going to dive right into. We're going to play music from their self-titles from 2017.

And this was kind of like their re-awakening of the band. Like they got all original members back. And they're actually working on a fifth studio album right now. Yeah, I mean, if you think about it, like in the indie music world, like Dream Pop and Shoegaze has been kind of on a steady, you know, inclined as far as like popularity and stuff. And the resurgence of shoe gaze, like, has just been since their departure in the 90s, you know, has just been gaining. And so like they picked a good time to come back.

Yeah. It's almost like they got the pulse of shoe gaze and the indie music scene and said, you know what, this is a good time for us to just kind of come back in and assert our dominance back, you know, as the kings of this genre. I mean, they're one of them, dude. Like their album, Suvlaki from 1994, is up there, you know, it's a top 10. It's a staple, yeah. And I think you even mentioned this on our last, what you heard. Yeah, they're like the founders of Shugate.

They're one of the founders of Shugates. As far as like, you've got your My Bloody Valentine and your slow dive and your ride and your cocktow twins. Like some of the like just the staples of the genre, like they're, yeah, they're top five for sure. Yeah, so I actually brought a song from Mojave 3, which is kind of what happened to slowdive after they split up in 95 where Hallstead, one of the, you know, he's one of the main guys, the guitar player and vocals for slow dive, kind of split off with a few other members from the band to form like this fulky kind of like country ambient. music, totally different. Before that, their last album as a full group was called Pygmalion, and Halstead just kind of went into this ambient direction, and there was like instrumental tracks, like 10-minute-long songs, just totally different from the sound of slow dive. And their drummer, Simon Scott, had split from the band before their release of that.

Well, the Mojave 3 stuff was really interesting because it was kind of like folky, country pop. kind of sounded like Wilco to me you know like Jeff Tweedy kind of stuff totally yep yeah but yeah so Simon Scott had split from the band because he just kind of felt like he was losing his spot in the group because it started to become more like

electronic and ambient and he's like well you know it just didn't feel the same so that's kind of what ended the group and that's really all I'm going to say about it for this episode jump back to our little sidetrack episode on slow dive from August 2019, if you want to get a little bit more on the history of the group. All right.

So like you said, 2014, the band is back together again. And three years later, we get this self-titled EP. Yep. Is this the original lineup? Yeah, dude. They're all back. All five of them. We've got Neil Halstead, vocals, guitar, keys.

Rachel Goswell on vocals. Christian Saville on guitar. Nick Chaplin on bass, Simon Scott on drums. That is slow dive and they're back, dude. And I just love the evolution of their sound. I mean, you know, it's interesting because this is their first album in 22 years. And it just feels so right, dude. This is one of my favorite Shugay's albums.

It's more just, I feel like it's more dreamy, you know, it's on more of the dream pop side. But it's just so great, dude. So, and we're going to jump right into the opening track on the record, and we're going to let this one play out for a little bit, dude, because this is one of my favorite, you know, we talk about this all the time. We like a good runway, right? That's right. Before takeoff, especially when it's an opening track on a record. And the way that this song just kind of eases you in to the record, it's one of my favorites, man.

I love this song so much. So here we go. Slow Dives, Self-titled from 2017. this track is called slow-mo. Introduction back into the scene, you know what I mean? Like, here's the first song that we hear from them on a record in 22 years or whatever, and it's just this nice little like, here, you know, let me take you into this world of ours, you know what I mean?

Yeah, in case you forgot. Yeah. Very nice. I love that guitar riff, man. It's just a very pretty song, very beautiful. Yeah, dude. Really great. Yeah.

And like, you know, from a shoegay standpoint, there's really, there isn't some of the classic like hallmarks of shoe gaze aside for maybe his voice, but even that, you know, which I appreciate. Like, I appreciate that they're not hitting you over the head with it as far as like, hey, we're that shoe gaze band. We're back, you know what I mean? Here's some in your face shoe gaze. Right.

Like maybe the second track, the one that you actually introed us in, Starroving, had some more like traditional kind of shoe gaze riffs. But like, it's there throughout the record. Yeah. And that's what I'm saying. Like I like that they take their time with the first. track, you know, to sort of ease you into it. You know what I mean? Kind of like, yeah, this is like a reintroduction, right? It's a self-titled record, you know, meaning like, you know, this is, you know,

we're back. This is us. Like, we're sort of like putting ourselves back out there and reintroducing ourselves to the, the shoegaze landscape, the indie music landscape, you know. Yeah, let me read some of these, some quotes from from critics here. It sums it up nicely, dude, kind of what we're what we're getting at here. Cam Lindsay of Exclaim, which a Canadian music publisher, wrote that it, quote, certainly was a long wait, but finally, slow dive have given us the album that we have been dreaming about for the last 22 years. And Dom Goreley from Dround and Sound called the album a, quote, majestic return that doesn't just fill in the gaps, but points unflinchingly towards future horizons.

So yeah, that's kind of like, you know, it's not just a rehashed out ideas from, you know, what they were doing 22 years ago. It's, it's new, you know, it's, it's a return that promise, that is very promising and, you know, points to a really bright future for the group, dude, and it's exciting to hear. Yeah. All right, so we're going to jump ahead a smooge. They kind of just let the, uh, runway just kind of breathe. throughout the rest of the song, and it just kind of envelops you in a really great way.

So we're just going to jump ahead a little bit, and here is clip two from slow-mo. So that is not me fading it out. That's just kind of how the song ends, and it's a really nice, long fade-out. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, it repeats that line over and over. So it's got that slow runway, you know, the nice long runway in the beginning, and kind of a long fade-out at the end. Yeah, I think it's a perfect first.

track for a band that's that's making a return right it's got rachel's vocals and neal's vocals so you know they're both getting a chance to kind of to showcase that hey you know i'm back you know i mean the band is back you know all of us are here this is the solo dive that you remember yeah here's that that chemistry that we had with our with our vocals together and and yeah it's great man you can you can tell that they're all in it for real you know like they're it's they're back and they're not going anywhere. The song is definitely like a good showcase of a band that's that's, you know, picking up right where they left off kind of thing, you know. Yeah. And in a great way. Yeah. All right. So we're going to jump to track three. There is two singles off the record,

Star Roving, which is the one we introed in with and Sugar for the Pill. So we're going to jump to track three. This one features mostly Rachel for as the lead singer. This track is called Don't know why. That's the first time I've heard that song. It's my favorite on the record, I think. It's great, man. It's so great. I love it.

I love the tradeoff too. Like, I love the tempo slowing down. And then how they kind of ease you in and out of it, right? I like that a lot. And, you know, this is a classic ethereal kind of whispered vocal, you know, paired with, you know, the very reverb-drenched. guitars that sort of almost like bury the vocals, you know, but that's what I love about it. Yeah, you can hear the vocals more clearly the first few reiterations of, you know, the line put it in a picture, hiding in a story, I don't want to know about it.

Yeah. Those first few lines. And then when it all comes in and continues on right before Neil jumps in, you can barely hear what they're saying. And they're kind of doing that like. There might be some layer building going on. Yeah, they're doing like, I think it's called like a round robin or something. Yeah.

You know, where they're singing different words at the same time kind of layered on top of each other. They started doing that. And yeah, it just gets washed away in that reverb. Great, great track. And then it's, you know, when the tempo slows down and the vocal tradeoff happens, like, it's a very clear vocal delivery. You can hear exactly what he's saying. Yeah. And then the drums pick back up and goes right back into it.

So, yeah, I like the, you know, there's a little bit of a storytelling type thing happening here with, like, how intentional they are with that, right? I think it works really well. Yeah, definitely some bitterness going on here in the lyrics, you know, it's as someone's like, I don't really want to even think about our history anymore. I don't, you know, I don't remember any of this. And then when he comes in, he's like, I really don't remember much about it all. I just saw you loving someone else. Yeah. My shabby heart was acting out.

You know, I don't want no one else. Anyways, great track, dude. I love it. Yeah, that's great. Good stuff. All right, man. So this one is going to be short and sweet. I got one more for us.

And this is the second from the last track on the record. This one is a nice slow build. So we're going to have a lengthy clip here. So this is track seven on the record. This song is called Go Get It. That's a killer track. So good, man. They're really good at creating a mood, you know.

setting the table for you. Yeah, they're really good at like drawing, like pulling away a lot of, a lot of the sound and the instruments for a measure or two, you know, and just kind of focus on the drumbeat for a little bit and then kind of slowly bring it all back in. Yeah. I mean, they're so good at that, dude. And yeah, it really, really creates quite the mood. And this album is a mood.

Yeah, yeah. And that's, and that almost came off like a jam band. song like a yeah like I could just hear them just just carrying that out for a long time live you know what I mean yeah you can just sit with that forever yeah and what's cool is you know so I'm looking on Wikipedia it's got the writers for each track mm-hmm all five of them on this one dude are credited for writing that one that's cool yeah that's cool I love the you know lyrics are so simple yeah I want to see it I want to feel it yep um I love that and the way that Rachel and Neil sort of trade off those those two phrases right I want to see it

I want to feel it really well done they do that a lot throughout this record yeah and they yeah they're so great it did man yeah what a what a great what a great entry back into the into the industry you know they just they're back yeah and it's it's a short and sweet record too that's what I like about it It's 45 minutes long. Now, have they put out anything else after? No, they haven't right. But you said they're working on a new record. They're working on, yeah, so as of September of 2020.

So they've been working on a fifth studio album. They've been working on it for at least since 2020, dude, since the end of 2020. It says details about a title, release date, or track list are yet to be revealed. Taking their time on that one, dude. Cool. Well, I mean, you know, compared to, you know, the last gap, 22 years, you know, to get a new one five, six, seven years later, you know, that's... It's not too bad. That's fine, you know.

It'll be worth the wait for sure, dude. Totally. Yeah. So one last quote here I'm going to read from this monthly publication called The Skinny. Duncan Harmon says that the album, quote, represents an awareness of legacy and the importance of not pissing all over it. To that extent, it's an essential addition to canon.

That sums it up. That's perfectly. Like this album fits in with the records that they were dropping 22, 25, 27 years prior to it. What's interesting about this record too is like, I like that line there

an awareness of legacy. Yes. Because, you know, these guys know that they're stepping. back into a genre that never really died. And this sounds like a matured, like, you know, refined, well-established group of musicians, you know, putting another entry into the world of shoegaze. Whereas all these, you know, up-and-coming bands that are just now putting music out are still

doing shoegays. But this sounds like, you know, a band that has been in the game for decades. you know. And it's funny because they took that that time off or whatever, but they're back and you can hear it. You know, you can hear the mastery, right? Yeah, and it's cool because they took that time off, but they were, a lot of them were doing their own stuff. Yeah. And you get all that experience in there. But yeah, these guys are, you know, shoegays royalty in this record, like you can hear it in this record, you know. Yeah, and to come back after all that time, and again, like to drop,

an album that is, it's something that, you know, like the new, the new beast of the genre can look to and still be, and still find influence from, you know, it's not, like, again, it's not just a reiteration of their sound from 22 years ago, you know, it's, it's fresh and new, and it's still, it's still uniquely slow dive. Yeah, just the, the timing of it, 2017, if you talk about, like, one of the most successful dream pop bands of the last, decade would be Beach House, right? And by the time of 2017 hits, like they've already put out Depression Cherry and Bloom and like all their records, you know, that they sort of, you know, propelled them into the state that they're at. So like, yeah, like I said, like it's a really

interesting time that they chose to come back, slow dive, right? Because they're coming back right when Dream Pop is sort of, you know, really gaining its popularity with bands like Beach House, right? And yeah, it's just, it's cool, man. It's cool to get some veterans, you know, back in the picture, you know, at the time where the genre is being revitalized and whatnot, right? So it's cool. Yeah, it's good stuff, dude. One of my favorite shoegates records, just hands down, dude.

So that's it, man. I got to put my dad hat back on and probably go change the diaper or two. Glad I was able to do this today. I was missing it, man. You know, I was just like, I got to hop back on and do a quick recording. We'll have to figure out a time to get together to do September's What You heard, so maybe that'll be the next time we hear from you. Yeah, we've got more family coming into town.

Sarah's sister and her family is probably in the air right now, but they're not going to be staying with us. So we're going to have some more time just Sarah and I where we're not, you know, also housing family members. Yeah. Through this month. So, yeah, I, we should be able to find time to sit down and do our monthly watcher heard episode. So that'll probably be when you hear my sweet voice again, dear listeners. Well, yeah, we know, we've had Nathan sit in for a couple episodes now. I might have him back again. You never know. But there's also a possibility of getting our good buddy Tyler Darling on the show. I might try to get him in. He is the host of the Spoon podcast. I turn my podcast on. I'm going to try to get him. See, I said it. So now it has to happen.

Do you know that, Tyler? Yeah, if you're still listening. Yeah. So anyway, we'll see what happens. But yeah, yeah, anytime you're able to sit down and record, we'll take it. But yeah, you know, you go out there and change a diaper or two. You know, do whatever you got to do. I think I just might, dude. All right. So as always, you can find us on the Pantheon podcast network. That is the podcast network for music lovers.

Dozens of other great music-centered shows on the network. That's Pantheonpodcast.com. Follow us on Instagram at No Filler Podcast. Reach out to us there. Send us a message. Let us know what you've been listening to. Let us know what you like, what you don't like. Give us suggestions for records to cover.

Again, that's at No Filler Podcast. And yeah, that's it for us today. Thank you, as always, for listening. My name's Quentin. My name is Travis. Yeah, I'll take care.