Anyone expecting Glasgow’s Barrowlands to be filled with 50-somethings tonight has been staring at the ground for too long, the majestic SLOWDIVE, and shoegaze/dream pop genre they’re so tightly associated with, enjoying a well-deserved renaissance.
As I rub my weary neck, blossoming mullets barge past, and a quick scan of the crowd makes me wonder if I’ve taken a wrong turn into one of the city’s students’ unions. But it’s great to see new generations appreciate the joys of Slowdive and how wonderful it must make the band feel after the music press slammed the door in their face all those years ago. With the shoe now firmly on the other foot, they’re clearly loving every minute, vocalist/guitarist Rachel Goswell grinning from ear to ear throughout tonight’s performance, and I can’t help but hope she’s feeling a bit smug. Even just a smidgen.
WHITELANDS
There’s also a whole new generation of bands paying homage to the sounds synonymous with the likes of Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine, their influence never to be underestimated, and tonight’s support band WHITELANDS is one of these, putting their own effect-driven spin on things. Commanding a huge crowd from the outset of their support set, it appears that word’s gotten out, though to be honest, they look a bit overwhelmed. But then again, it’s Friday night at the Barras, and they’ve just released their debut album, Night-bound Eyes Are Blind To The Day, which Slowdive’s Neil Halstead orders us to go out and buy.
Drummer Jagun and vocalist/guitarist Etienne are on good form, chatting away, Etienne telling us they’ve given a previously released number Cheer a second chance on the new album. It seems like a good punt to be honest, the number a charming assault on our ears, no Ride pun intended… Bassist Vanessa may be familiar to some as a member of Big Joanie and guitarist Michael helps thrash out glimmering layers of guitar on hooky, melodic numbers including latest single Tell Me About It, which also features the band’s label-mates deary, both bands signed to Sonic Cathedral. Check Whitelands out at https://whitelands.bandcamp.com/
SLOWDIVE
SLOWDIVE take to the stage under the woozy waves of former collaborator Brian Eno’s Deep Blue Day, the ambience briefly interrupted as an image of ‘The Worst Toilet in Scotland’ flashes through my mind. Coming up for air, the band slip trance-like into the late night krautrock-edged vibe of Shanty, opening number from last year’s Everything Is Alive, their fifth album, which offers flickers of light in darkness, and glints of their shimmering back catalogue going back to 1990. As the number unfolds, geometric shapes morph lazily on the backlit screen before the first breezes of effect-laden guitars fill the room.
By second number, Star Roving, everything truly is alive, every one of my senses roused, with a dazzling deluge of incendiary guitar serving up flavours you can almost taste, under the uplifting intones of vocalist/guitarist Neil Halstead, backed beautifully by Rachel’s ethereal cooing. The first release from their eponymous ‘comeback’ album in 2017, in a year that saw fellow shoegazers Ride also make their comeback with the lush Weather Diaries, Star Roving showcased a new boldness for Slowdive, which tonight sees the crowd practically blown off their feet. Now they’ve laid this delight in front of us, I long to hear the divine dreamscape of the album’s first track Slowmo, which I used to play on repeat, the warm glow of its unfurling chimes marking the dawn of Slowdive’s new era. I mean they’re going to play it later…surely?
Swerving between albums, the band’s biggest hit, Catch the Breeze, from 1991 debut Just For A Day is up next, Rachel and Neil‘s harmonies sending chills through the audience, while Nick Chaplin’s bass broods beautifully on Skin In The Game. Ever graceful, Rachel swings and sways on Souvlaki Space Station, said to be one of her favourite Slowdive songs, her gauzy vocals floating over a weave of dub, creating an almost eerie ambience. Chained To A Cloud might describe the sad state of our lives in this day and age, but tonight this Slowdive number, also off the new album, is both breathtaking and heartbreaking. A spiritual masterpiece, the charm is in its simplicity, Rachel’s vocals so beautifully breathy as they tip toe atop the simple loop that drives though the song’s core, the perfect soundtrack piece.
The mellow grooves of Kisses, first single from Everything Is Alive, delighted Slowdive fans on its release last year, encompassing so much of what we love about the band with a freshness we’ve anticipated for so long, and tonight it shines, caressing the senses, crisp and hazy all at once, guitarist Christian Savill telling RESOUND last year that the final version of this song was determined by how it was played live.“That is one that had different lives and versions…It started off as a more traditional song in demo form, and we went down the electronic route with it which sounded amazing.”
As the set draws to a close, the crowd are well and truly immersed in the moment as the half-lit rays of When The Sun Hits sends goosebumps soaring before 40 Days completes the set, its delicious distortion crashing against its melancholic melody. The crowd’s response says it all. Sublime!
A three song encore follows, Sugar For The Pill intoxicating as it radiates through the haze, another fan favourite from 2017’s Slowdive before they take things down a tone, emotions running high on Dagger. But by now I’m staring at my shoes as it becomes clear they won’t be playing Slowmo this evening. Nevermind, I’m soon stirred out of my gloom by a bunch o’ radges arguing nearby and someone telling them to shut the f**k up. So an evening of almost perfect bliss concludes with Rachel’s spiritually-charged vocal intro on Syd Barrett’s Golden Hair…there goes those goosebumps again!
Slowdive are so much more than that shoegaze band from the early ‘90s, given the flick due to Britpop, as many of us have known all along, and many more are discovering thanks to the power of TikTok and the likes. Tonight they demonstrated how their sound’s evolved, without being afraid to retrace their early steps, a sensory explosion in every tread. As I leave the Barrowlands, layers of sound I can’t quite pinpoint linger in my ears long into the night. Breathtaking!
Words: Shirley Mack @musingsbymarie
Pictures: Calum Mackintosh @ayecandyphotography