My Bloody Valentine (album review)

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
(Creation Records, 1991)

     The exotic tropical paradise of La Habana in Cuba is preparing for the onslaught of a major hurricane. As the wind gusts in from the bay, two young tourists that are probably American are suspiciously dangling their legs over the seawall. Although the Navy Seal floating invisibly in the water might suspect they are traitors, betraying the free world by looking for a unique cultural experience and high quality cigars, the two are mostly harmless. Even though they are both scruffy-looking, they have gorgeous haircuts. As they sip their mojitos, they argue animatedly:

     Wearing a Velvet Underground T-shirt, Stefan is boasting, "I'm so avant garde, I have an original cassette copy of LL Cool J's first LP."

     "That's nothing. I saw Grandmaster Flash spin records back before I was even born." Kevin grins triumphantly in his black Joy Division T-shirt.

     Stephan throws his worn copy of an obscure Hemingway book at Kevin, "Well, I have a vinyl of every Niagra record on German import and a white label of every seminal Detroit techno hit."

     Kevin is too excited to acknowledge the LCD Soundsystem reference. "Come on, don't you remember my parents named me for Kevin Shields?"

     "Who the hell is Kevin Shields?"

     "Oh my gosh, you've just lost major cool points, my friend. He's just the guitarist of My Bloody Valentine, the one who signed my Fender Jazzmaster. How could you forget his name?"

     Stefan hangs his head in shame.

     Since the 1991 release of their second LP Loveless [buy], My Bloody Valentine has not only useful for winning annoying name-dropping arguments, but also for causing reviewers to rave, giving a place for Loveless on many significant Best Albums lists. What at first is confusing about the enthusiastic acclaim for the album is that it seems like a mess, a muddy chaos of heavily-filtered guitar drowning out the indiscernible vocals. The music is sluggish like water in a muddy pond. The songs often do not progress cleanly or resolve comfortably.
     But just as pond water beneath the microscope reveals intricate, fascinating life, so Loveless unfolds into an immersive world of sound. The album is not a collection of songs; it is more like a painting that requires thoughtful examination to fully appreciate its colors, its textures, and its meaning. One of the differences between music and traditional visual art is unlike a painting which begins as a whole that the eye deconstructs and conceptualizes, an ordinary musical piece usually begins as a sequential order of tones that creates a whole in the form of a melody recognizable by the ear. However, in the hand of musical geniuses such as Kevin Shields on Loveless, music becomes a unified whole more than a melody simply manufactured from the humble building blocks of notes and chords. It becomes timeless, free from the restraints of progression. Loveless transforms these traditional musical building blocks, wrapping guitar chords in lush sustain effects so that the chords swirl together in a synergy fused into a single blazing star set against the background of dreamy vocals by Shields and fellow band-member Bilinda Butcher.

     Regardless of the medium, masterpieces have the ability to captivate their audience. With enough volume and enough patience, Loveless can overwhelm the listener to the point of speechlessness:

(download)
:: Only Shallow ::
:: To Here Knows When ::
:: When You Sleep ::
:: I Only Said ::
:: Blown a Wish ::