From the start, the album is most definitely My Bloody Valentine. It had their sound, and it has their sound because, for the first three tracks, it is Loveless. It’s not a copy, instead it feels like the songs could have come right from the album’s track list. Opener “She Found Now” is sleepy and dazey, you just want to curl up next to forever and never wake up. It loses you in the music,From the start, the album is most definitely My Bloody Valentine. It had their sound, and it has their sound because, for the first three tracks, it is Loveless. It’s not a copy, instead it feels like the songs could have come right from the album’s track list. Opener “She Found Now” is sleepy and dazey, you just want to curl up next to forever and never wake up. It loses you in the music, the way a My Bloody Valentine album should. It feels like a closer, more than an opener. “Only Tomorrow”, to me sounds like a faster “Sometimes”, and it is my favourite song from the album. But even though these first two songs submit you to a land of honey gloss, where you can seep into the warm pores of each guitar strum, the rest of the album feels limp, confused, the songs seem patched together. I think it suffers from being recorded at different stages over the years because there was never one period where the band sat down and recorded it all at once.
“Who Sees You” meanders off course preparing you to say goodbye to that Loveless sound as it goes into “Is This and Yes”, a song the feels like it should be better than it is. The opening is great, it’s dreamy, and it’s still Shoegaze. It just feels a bit too long and overdrawn, it sits well as a middle point though, it rests in that neutral zone.
“If I am” and “New You” feel out of place. The drums are more prominent and there isn’t a subdued feeling to it. I don’t like the big bouncy beats and the bass, a problem the second half of the album suffers from. It detracts from getting lost in the music because it feels uncomfortable. ”In Another Way” is noisey, but not in a way that I like. It feel borderline obnoxious at some points with the repetitive drum loop in the background, but it’s not as bad as “Nothing Is”. “Nothing Is” is a loop, one that is quite frankly boring and uninteresting. It doesn’t compel any wonder or joy in me. “Wonder 2″ is noise though. With Jets and breakbeats flying over the band. It’s something I could like, but after the last few tracks it’s not all their with me.
Overall, My Bloody Valentine produce a strong first half, but one that get’s lost in time. It has it’s strong parts, the first two tracks are amazing, they really are. However the rest of the album lacks proper substance, and it just drawls along in a way I wish it wouldn’t. There isn’t anything catchy, nothing that garners your attention. But in the end, the first half does retain it’s charm, and it will always send you back to Loveless.… Expand