Album Review: My Bloody Valentine - m b v

It's one of the most hotly anticipated releases in the history of indie rock; almost 22 years after their classic Loveless, My Bloody Valentine are back. m b v kicks off with She Found Now, a song with the kind of warm fuzziness we expect from the Irish shoegaze progenitors; a distorted drone sits in the background as cleaner guitars chime through and Kevin Shields croons gently over the top of this warm bed of sound. Only Tomorrow follows; it's plain and sweet with a fantastic vocal line that does most of the work as the band just churn away.

Shit gets weird very quickly from here; the woozy Who Sees You is discomforting, a wash of guitar chords are battered, bent and twisted out of shape – it's the aural equivalent of seasickness. Droning, pulsating synths and the gentle coo of Bilinda Butcher make Is This And Yes feel therapeutic while New You is cruisy and might be the band's finest pop song yet, Debbie Googe's fuzz bass providing a foundation for an irresistible vocal melody and a terrific synth line. In Another Way is driven by a hectic electronic beat as a meandering synth line ensures its groove never becomes comfortable, but it's nowhere near as maddening as Nothing Is; essentially a one second industrial sample looped incessantly for an entire song. It doesn't feel like an attempt to rile up the listener and the album is richer for its inclusion.

m b v needed to be a record we were happy to have rather than one we could have done without and it's a welcome addition to the small My Bloody Valentine canon.