Souvlaki (1993): When Slowdive Touched the Sky

During the exciting first years of the 90s decade, the USA were experiencing the angry and furious fever of grunge bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. On the other side of the Atlantic ocean, an underground musical genre with a radically opposite sound had been fascinating England for some years: it was a mysterious, beautiful and fascinating noise, commonly known as shoegaze. In 1991, the mythical British label Creation Records released one of the most influential records of all time, My Bloody Valentine’s second album Loveless. This groundbreaking release ended up defining the shoegaze movement: a form of lethargic rock, stylistically influenced by the noise and stridency of bands like The Jesus and Mary Chain, and by the dream pop trend of bands like Cocteau Twins and Mazzy Star. Guitars loaded with distortion, reverb and constant use of pedals- the result was a thick and sweet wall of noise.

The music press of those times, especially NME and Melody Maker, labeled the nascent genre as shoegaze. The name came from bands cradled in Creation Records (Ride, Sverwedriver, The Telescopes, The Boo Radleys, among others) which used to stare down at the pedals during their concerts. In 1993, another band from the same company named Slowdive (led by Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell), returned from a North American tour after releasing Just For a Day (1991), their first LP. Slowdive were getting ready to return to the studio and focus on what would be their next album, Souvlaki (1993). They had absolutely no idea that this record would become another great bastion of shoegaze and one of the greatest and most influential albums of the entire decade. In compositional terms, Souvlaki represents a great step forward from its predecessor. Neil Halstead creates compositions in which he tries not to overwhelm the listener with walls of guitars, but to give each song a seductive and mysterious texture. All of this supported by the immeasurable whispering voice of Rachel Goswell, and also by a sublime cacophony of guitar experimentation. The legendary musician Brian Eno is another one of the key names for the plate: initially requested by the band to produce the album, he ended up writing the song “Sing” with Halstead, and also decorating the impressive “Here She Comes” with his usual ambient touches.

“Alison” is the opening track of Souvlaki, the one that marks the launch of our journey into the ethereal universe. The harmonies of Goswell and Halstead are masterfully conjugated together, achieving the blissful sensation of levitation. But it is when “Machine Gun” arrives that our bodies can no longer contain us. The vocal alternation between Goswell and Halstead is guided by guitars that open our souls, immediately injecting us with a spectacular feeling of bliss. The vitality and beauty that emanate from these songs is a reflection of the ambition that Slowdive intended with their art. The song “40 Days” closes this phenomenal beginning, completely capturing the attention of the listener. The themes with Eno represent a low but essential decrease of revolutions: “Sing” and “Here She Comes” serve as the ideal foreplay for the climax, and give way to one of the most amazing tracks on the album, “Souvlaki Space Station”–filled with delays that warm up engines, and then take off to infinity. The speeds increase again with the unparalleled “When The Sun Hits”, which displays the sonic spectacularism of an otherworldly experience.Towards the end, the songs “Altogether” and “Melon Yellow” serve as a soundtrack that returns us to Earth, with a delicate sense of infinity. The acoustic closure of the album comes with the heartbreaking “Dagger”, a song that has shed tears over the world – in its lyrics, Halstead talks about his romantic break-up with Goswell. Souvlaki‘s overwhelming success in terms of musical impact was criminally ignored in its first years of release, the band was disintegrating and the promotional tours were a total disaster. Their label, critics and the public would incline in favor of the American grunge and the new star of britpop: Oasis.

Time has placed this album in a very special and well-deserved spot. Souvlaki is one of those rare records that left its indelible mark among all of us who seek in music a refuge where we can protect ourselves from the constant blows of life: a vehicle that transport us to a heavenly space, where we can always feel in glory.

by Octavio Carbajal González

and then take off to infinity. The speeds increase again with the unparalleled
“When The Sun Hits”, which displays the sonic spectacularism of an otherworldly
experience.Towards the end, the songs “Altogether” and “Melon Yellow” serve as a
soundtrack that returns us to Earth, with a delicate sense of infinity. The acoustic
closure of the album comes with the heartbreaking “Dagger”, a song that has shed
tears over the world – in its lyrics, Halstead talks about his romantic break-up with
Goswell. Souvlaki’s overwhelming success in terms of musical impact was
criminally ignored in its first years of release, the band was disintegrating and the
promotional tours were a total disaster. Their label, critics and the public would
incline in favor of the American grunge and the new star of Britpop: Oasis.
Time has placed this album in a very special and well-deserved spot. Souvlaki is
one of those rare records that left its indelible mark among all of us who seek in
music a refuge where we can protect ourselves from the constant blows of life: a
vehicle that transport us to a heavenly space, where we can always feel in glory.