Hello, everyone! Just before I review this new Slowdive album, I want to give another quick update on my favourite songs of 2022 list—it’s very close, and I would be shocked if it isn’t posted this month.

Alright, so, now it’s time for me to review the new Slowdive album, everything is alive.

Alright, it’s time for me to get cancelled. Because before listening to this album, which is Slowdive’s fifth, I finally decided to check out their other albums, which I’d heard so many great things about but hadn’t listened to until recently.

I started with their first three albums, all of which are super critically acclaimed, especially their second album, Souvlaki, which is often considered one of the best albums of the 1990s, maybe even one of the best of all time!

And to me … it’s pleasant background music. Yeah, I know, I could try to fit in with other critics and talk about how all those albums are near perfect … but while I like all three albums, I don’t love any of them, not even Souvlaki.

In fact, as if I wasn’t already saying enough controversial things, Souvlaki is probably my least favourite of those three albums, mostly because I think it has the messiest production of the three. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the majority of that album, but it just didn’t wow me that much … again, to me it sounds like background music, and not an album I really feel super drawn to go back to.

Their third album, Pygmalion, is probably my favourite of those three albums, with a lot of eerie experimentation which I find fascinating … but at the same time, while “Crazy for You” is incredible, the album still felt like it was missing something, holding it back from being truly great if you ask me.

Then, not long after the release of Pygmalion, the band broke up, and many thought Pygmalion was their final album. But nearly two decades later, Slowdive re-united as a band, and in 2017 they dropped their self-titled comeback album which also received a ton of critical acclaim. Going into this review, I decided to listen to that album as well … and if I’m being totally honest, I couldn’t get into that album at all … even compared to their first three albums—which, again, I’m not a huge fan of—it felt like a MASSIVE step down; the melodies didn’t interest me at all, the production felt really messy, and as a full album experience it felt like a total slog to get through … and honestly, in my personal opinion, the album is quite bad.

So, I’m not going to pretend I had high expectations for this new album, but I was at least curious about it. So, now the album is out and I’ve given it multiple listens. Is it a return to form?

Far from it if you ask me. In fact, this is my least favourite Slowdive album to date, and if it hadn’t been for the fact that I was already planning on giving this its own review and started writing about my feelings on their early albums, I don’t think I’d be giving this album its own review; I’d probably just do a mini review.

And the reason for that is because it feels like there’s so little for me to talk about here. Yes, I know this is getting a lot of critical acclaim, but to me personally this sounds like some of the most uninteresting, bland, tedious dream pop I’ve heard recently. And now’s a good time for me to make this clear: like with all of my reviews, everything I say here is just how I feel about the album, and just because I don’t like the album doesn’t mean I have anything against the band making the music they want to make. None of this is meant as a personal attack on anyone or anything like that, it’s just my own personal feelings on the album.

So, like I was saying, this is absolutely not the kind of dream pop I’d go out of my way to listen to, but not only do I find it incredibly boring compositionally, but the sound itself doesn’t even work for me. And if I’m going to compare it to their early albums … well, those albums at least have some atmosphere; the dreamy feeling of those albums’ sound feels more dreamy, which isn’t something I always love in music, but at least I prefer it over this album, which feels like it’s going for that dreamy sound … and instead it just feels awkwardly dry, like food that’s been left out too long.

And the mixing doesn’t work for me at all. There’s no real punch here if you ask me, as the instruments blend together really awkwardly. For example, there’s the song, “alife”, which features an incredibly annoying snare that sounds way too loud in the mix, and the guitars are noticeable but I can’t tell if I find them too loud or too quiet, because the mix sounds so messy. Honestly, this song reminds me of some songs from that Beach Fossils album from earlier this year, although a lot worse.

And also, while I get that the lyrics aren’t the main point of this album—at least I don’t think they are—it’s worth mentioning that I don’t find the lyrics very impressive for the most part, and they often feel like they’re supposed to come across as being really deep, and I just find it kind of cringey, like on “chained to a cloud”—and while maybe there’s more going on in that song that I’m realizing, it kind of feels like just a bunch of clichés put into one song with nothing tying them all together thematically.

So, if you can’t tell already, I dislike this album a lot. But I want to try to understand why this is getting so much acclaim … I mean, even with their self-titled album I can kind of understand the critical acclaim, as it at least had more atmosphere than this album, even though I think the melodies and compositions there are possibly as tedious as they are on this album. But I struggle to even see the appeal of this album. Obviously if you like it that’s great, I have nothing wrong with that … I’m just saying I don’t understand it.

So, obviously I can’t be the one to fully explain why people really like this, because, again, I don’t get it. I could try, but I’m also curious to hear from fans of the album why they like the album.

And honestly, I can’t help but wonder if a lot of the critical acclaim is simply because this is a Slowdive album. And I’m not saying this is the case for everyone giving it positive reviews, and I’m also not claiming to be totally unbiased myself, but it’s still something I wanted to point out. Could you imagine the critical reception this album would get if it were by someone a lot less critically acclaimed?

And I’m not saying it wouldn’t get any critical acclaim if that were the case, but I feel like it would get a lot less.

And yeah, I kind of feel like I’ve barely talked about the album throughout this whole review … but again, there’s not really much for me to say about it. It’s a forty-plus minute album with some very annoyingly messy mixing, with instrumental tones that don’t blend well at all, with the basslines having almost no presence with the production, and the compositions don’t interest me at all.

I mean, I could have tried to go track-by-track here, but the track list just blends together for me. So, yeah, if I’m being totally honest, in my own personal opinion this is a terrible album. Yes, I know you could point to so many other reviews on my website and say, ‘Wait, you rated this higher than the new Slowdive album?’ But as always, it’s just how I personally feel, and for me this is a 3/10. If I have different taste in music than you do, that’s fine. This album just felt like a total slog to get through for me, and I don’t understand the appeal of it at all.

If you want me to find something positive to say … well, the closing track, “the slab” is the one track which I feel has some atmosphere, and the snare is pretty punchy, even though the melodies are still boring and the mixing still sounds messy. There are some points here and there which sound decent, and I’ve heard much more annoying albums than this.

But as always, feel free to let me know in the comments what you thought of the album and/or what you thought of my review. And if you think my review deserves a 3/10, that’s fine. You don’t have to like my review of the album, just like I don’t have to like the album.

And if there are any albums you want me to review—preferably 2023 albums, but I’m open to doing throwback reviews, too—I’d love some recommendations. No guarantee I review it, but there’s a decent chance.

Also, don’t be surprised if the reviews slow down a bit over the next few weeks. I’m about to start college this week, and I’ll be very busy.

And with that, thanks for reading!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 3/10
Favourite Tracks: “the slab”
Least Favourite Tracks: “alife”, “andalucia plays”, “kisses”, “skin in the game”, “chained to a cloud”