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Everything Is Alive (album)

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Everything Is Alive
Studio album by
Slowdive
Released1 September 2023 (2023-09-01)
GenreShoegaze[1]
Length41:37
LabelDead Oceans
ProducerNeil Halstead
Slowdive chronology
Slowdive
(2017) 		Everything Is Alive
(2023)
Singles from Everything Is Alive
  1. "Kisses"
    Released: 20 June 2023
  2. "Skin in the Game"
    Released: 18 July 2023
  3. "The Slab"
    Released: 9 August 2023
  4. "Alife"
    Released: 30 August 2023

Everything Is Alive is the fifth studio album by English rock band Slowdive, released on 1 September 2023 through Dead Oceans. It is their first album in six years and their second since reforming, following their self-titled album released in 2017.

The album received critical acclaim and was commercially successful throughout Europe, reaching the top ten in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Background

[edit]

Slowdive entered the studio in September 2020 to begin recording their fifth album.[2] The band originally booked studio sessions for April 2020 that were cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] During the pandemic, the band suffered the loss of Rachel Goswell's mother and Simon Scott's father. Neil Halstead, who wrote all of the album's songs, said that the music was more of an "escape" from the darkness that the band's members were going through.[4] Goswell struggled with alcoholism in the wake of her grief before entering sobriety.[5] "I thought it was going to be quite a dark record but once we got together as a band, I think some of that darkness lifted and some of the tunes became a bit lighter," Halstead said.[6]

The album arose from material that Halstead wrote with modular synthesizers in 2019 for a planned electronic solo record.[4][6] He was unsure of the song "Kisses", which was ultimately released as the album's lead single, as it felt "too pop" for him.[4] The instrumental "Prayer Remembered" originated from an arpeggiated synth line before Scott filtered guitar leads through a Max patch system.[7] Halstead flew out to Los Angeles to mix the album with producer Shawn Everett, which resulted in the drums becoming "dirtier sounding".[7]

Critical reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.9/10[8]
Metacritic82/100[9]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[10]
Clash8/10[11]
DIY[12]
The Guardian[13]
Louder Than War5/5[14]
Mojo[15]
Pitchfork7.7/10[16]
The Skinny[1]
Slant Magazine[17]
Uncut9/10[18]

Everything Is Alive received a score of 82 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on 20 critics' reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[9] Editors of AnyDecentMusic? gave it a score of 7.9 out of 10 based on 20 reviews.[8] Uncut called it "the Slowdive you've been waiting for",[18] while Mojo described it as "evocative rather than vivid in a way that evokes Faith-era Cure's greyscale atmosphere", calling it "the sound of Slowdive still holding their impressive earthly form".[15] The Skinny's Lewis Wade summarised Everything Is Alive as "another Slowdive release that does little to alter their position as stalwarts of the nebulous shoegaze scene. Emotional textures are evoked through gauzy vocals and guitar reverb, with just a few tweaks to the formula here and there".[1]

Irina Shtreis of The Quietus wrote that it "appears to be more immediate and transparent than its predecessor" and "while at first listen Everything Is Alive might seem plain and minimalist, its flavours can be savoured for a long time".[19] Dana Poland of Slant Magazine opined that while it "may not boast the lo-fi grit of Slowdive's earlier work", nevertheless "the band's skill for scrupulous melodies is undiminished here. The album evolves Slowdive's well-established sound with more electronic textures, creating a conceptual sonic landscape that buzzes with life".[17]

Dave Simpson of The Guardian gave a favourable review of the album, comparing some songs on the album to early New Order and commenting that "the band deserve much credit for sticking to their guns and proving a lot of people wrong".[13] David Murphy of MusicOMH described it as a "joyful listen", writing that it "tak[es] the cloud tunnel bliss of the best shoegaze and add[s] some pure pop pleasure".[20] Clash's Robin Murray found Everything Is Alive to be "at times experimental, it forever returns to their core values, with this tension supplying some of the album's finest moments", concluding that it is "enchanting and illuminating, [and] proves that Slowdive's pulse is still beating strong".[11]

Joe Goggins of DIY stated that "listening to Everything Is Alive, you get the sense that the veteran shoegazers couldn't rush something if they'd tried" as it "very much gives off the sense that the slower gestations lead to the richest rewards".[12] Reviewing the album for Spin, Jonathan Cohen commented that the album's "maturity and depth of feeling transcends genre and style—something that's sadly rare from guitar-based rock'n'roll at this late date".[21] Wayne Carey of Louder Than War called it "easily the best album of their career" as it is "heavy with experience, but each note is poised, wise, and necessarily pitched to hope".[14]

Tim Sendra of AllMusic characterised Everything Is Alive as "equally experimental and accessible, brimming over with aquatic atmosphere and pointed emotional feeling, and full of familiar joys and new surprises", calling it "the work of a group who are done reforming and have set their sights on brilliant evolution instead".[10] John Garratt of PopMatters opined that "from the haunted guitars to the impressionist vocals, from the most spell-binding drones to the brisk tempos, this is a Slowdive album through and through".[22] Pitchfork's Jayson Greene felt the "music is wispier, more skeletal, attuned to and aware of fading glories" as "the length feels purposeful and personal, like these songs are sketches from a journal Halstead and Goswell left open" and "the love songs feel lonelier, the landscape more unforgiving".[16]

The Guardian ranked it the 45th best album of 2023.[23]

Track listing

[edit]

All tracks are written by Neil Halstead

Everything Is Alive track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Shanty"5:47
2."Prayer Remembered"4:46
3."Alife"4:33
4."Andalucia Plays"6:41
5."Kisses"3:57
6."Skin in the Game"3:52
7."Chained to a Cloud"6:51
8."The Slab"5:10
Total length:41:37

Personnel

[edit]

Slowdive

Technical

Charts

[edit]
Chart performance for Everything Is Alive
Chart (2023) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[24] 21
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[25] 9
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[26] 24
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[27] 30
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[28] 4
French Albums (SNEP)[29] 54
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[30] 7
Irish Albums (IRMA)[31] 54
Japanese Hot Albums (Billboard Japan)[32] 96
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[33] 10
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[34] 15
Scottish Albums (OCC)[35] 5
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[36] 30
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[36] 47
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[37] 17
UK Albums (OCC)[38] 6
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[39] 1
US Billboard 200[40] 63
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[41] 11
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[42] 7
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[43] 12

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Wade, Lewis (29 August 2023). "Slowdive album review: Everything Is Alive". The Skinny. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  2. ^ Brereton, Greta (21 September 2023). "Slowdive drop hints that album number five is on the way". NME. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  3. ^ DiGiacomo, Frank (30 August 2023). "Slowdive's Rachel Goswell on the Band's New Album, Coping With Hearing Impairment & Her Hopes for Meeting Siouxsie Sioux". Billboard. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  4. ^ a b c Lindsay, Cam (1 September 2023). "Slowdive Are More 'Alive' Than Ever". Spin. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  5. ^ Nugent, Annabel (4 September 2023). "Slowdive: 'A journalist said we'd be stacking shelves in Tesco within six months'". The Independent. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  6. ^ a b Harrison, Ian (8 July 2023). "Slowdive Interviewed: 'We've always tried to work as a pretty solid democracy'". Mojo. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  7. ^ a b Enos, Morgan (6 September 2023). "Reunited Shoegaze Legends Slowdive Prove Everything Is Alive". Grammy.com. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  8. ^ a b "Everything Is Alive by Slowdive reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  9. ^ a b "Everything Is Alive by Slowdive Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  10. ^ a b Sendra, Tim. "Slowdive – everything is alive Album Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  11. ^ a b Murray, Robin (31 August 2023). "Slowdive – everything is alive | Reviews". Clash. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  12. ^ a b Goggins, Joe (1 September 2023). "Slowdive – everything is alive review". DIY. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  13. ^ a b Simpson, Dave (1 September 2023). "Slowdive: Everything Is Alive review – exquisite songs from the comeback kids of shoegaze". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  14. ^ a b Carey, Wayne (27 August 2023). "Slowdive: everything is alive – review – Album of the Week!". Louder Than War. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  15. ^ a b "Slowdive – Everything Is Alive". Mojo. October 2023. p. 85.
  16. ^ a b Greene, Jayson (7 September 2023). "Slowdive: everything is alive Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  17. ^ a b Poland, Dana (28 August 2023). "Slowdive Everything Is Alive Review: A More Refined Haze". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  18. ^ a b "Slowdive – Everything Is Alive". Uncut. October 2023. p. 18.
  19. ^ Shtreis, Irina (29 August 2023). "Slowdive – Everything Is Alive". The Quietus. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  20. ^ Murphy, David (31 August 2023). "Slowdive – Everything Is Alive | Album Reviews". MusicOMH. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  21. ^ Cohen, Jonathan (30 August 2023). "Slowdive Soothes And Stuns On Everything Is Alive". Spin. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  22. ^ Garratt, John (30 August 2023). "Slowdive's Everything Is Alive Is a Masterpiece of Subtlety". PopMatters. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  23. ^ Snapes, Laura (5 December 2023). "The 50 best albums of 2023 – 50 to 41". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  24. ^ "Australiancharts.com – Slowdive – Everything Is Alive". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  25. ^ "Ultratop.be – Slowdive – Everything Is Alive" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
  26. ^ "Ultratop.be – Slowdive – Everything Is Alive" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
  27. ^ "Album Top-40 Uge 36, 2023". Hitlisten. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  28. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Slowdive – Everything Is Alive" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  29. ^ "Top Albums (Week 36, 2023)". Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
  30. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Slowdive – Everything Is Alive" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  31. ^ "Irish-charts.com – Discography Slowdive". Hung Medien. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  32. ^ "Billboard Japan Hot Albums – Week of September 6, 2023". Billboard Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  33. ^ "NZ Top 40 Albums Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 11 September 2023. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  34. ^ "Portuguesecharts.com – Slowdive – Everything Is Alive". Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
  35. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  36. ^ a b "Spanishcharts.com – Slowdive – Everything Is Alive". Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
  37. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Slowdive – Everything Is Alive". Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
  38. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  39. ^ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  40. ^ "Slowdive Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  41. ^ "Slowdive Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  42. ^ "Slowdive Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  43. ^ "Slowdive Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
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