Reading, UK · shoegaze · dream-pop

Slowdive

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Shoegaze's gentlest giants — Souvlaki haze reborn for a generation that found them on the internet.

Slowdive formed in Reading, England, in October 1989, built around Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell, friends since the age of six who had already played together in a local band called the Pumpkin Fairies. Christian Savill, Nick Chaplin and Simon Scott filled out the lineup that recorded the band's early work, with Halstead as primary songwriter.

Savill joined after answering a classified ad seeking a female guitarist, reportedly offering to wear a dress to get the spot. Steve Walters of EMI saw an early show, and the band signed to Creation Records with an average age of 19, quickly drawing attention from the music press, including a Melody Maker 'Single of the Week' award for three consecutive EPs.

The band's sound rests on layered, heavily effected guitars, slow tempos and quiet, intertwined vocals that sit low in the mix. They released a run of albums for Creation in the early 1990s, among them 'Just for a Day,' 'Souvlaki' and the more ambient 'Pygmalion,' before splitting in the mid-1990s.

Several members continued afterward as Mojave 3, working in a more folk and country-influenced direction. Slowdive reunited in 2014, and released a self-titled album in 2017, their first record in 22 years.

'Everything Is Alive' followed in 2023 and became the band's first top ten album anywhere, reaching that position in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

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shoegazedream-pop