Slowdive, ‘Everything Is Alive”

The last time we heard from Slowdive, the shoegaze pioneers reemerged after a 19-year hiatus with a self-titled album in 2017. Slowdive was a near-perfect album. Not just a return to form but an evolution into an even more refined state. In the years since that collection of songs has somehow gotten even better–and bigger, attracting a new generation of fans while keeping the band’s legendary status fully intact with sold-out tours and main stage festival appearances.

All of which make the expectations for Everything Is Alive sky-high. When Slowdive closed up shop in 1995, the indie world had moved on to new sounds and new haircuts. The band was dropped by its label and watched as label mates Oasis became one of the biggest bands in the world. In 2023, Slowdive is coming back to the friendlier environment of critical acclaim and the warm embrace of dedicated fans holding their breath hoping that 2017 wasn’t a fluke.

Fans can exhale now. It wasn’t, and Slowdive is here to stay.

“Shanty” kicks off the album with an analog synth loop that teases a possible return to the ambient electronic explorations of 1995’s Pygmalion for all of about 45 seconds when guitarist Christian Savill dive-bombs the proceedings with a squall of guitar noise that raises the stakes from “interesting” to “epic.” And that’s before the ghostly familiar vocals of Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell breathe even more life into the track.

Everything Is Alive pulls this type of thing off repeatedly: being precisely what you’d expect but with no shortage of surprises and leaps forward and sideways. It’s the sound of a band embracing the artistic paradox of harkening back while breathing new life into its legacy.

There’s no shortage of cozy familiar Slowdive here. “Skin In The Game” has all the emotion and texture of Souvlaki’s finest moments. Instrumental track “Prayer Remembered” sounds like something the band would put on one of its early EPs and “Andalucia Plays” wouldn’t be out of place on a ’90s “indie chill-out” mixtape. These tracks drift by confidently, never really arriving anywhere; content in being beautiful journeys through spaced-out haze.

Elsewhere, Slowdive branches out with confidence and, yes, even hooks. It’s not something for which the band is famous, and yet on Everything Is Alive it’s everywhere. “Kisses” may be the poppiest thing it has ever attempted, and while “Alfie” may not be a festival singalong anthem, the chorus and guitar line are assured and catchy.

“Chained To A Cloud” and “The Slab” close the album by cranking up the drama and atmosphere, and making something new out of the familiar elements of Slowdive’s signature sounds. There’s an unfamiliar soulful grit to Rachel Goswell’s voice on “Chained To A Cloud” that really shines here. It’s a vocal performance like nothing she’s ever delivered and points toward some exciting new musical territory.

Ultimately, Everything Is Alive succeeds by being a delicate dance between the familiar and the novel. Six years after its flawless return, Slowdive still has unfinished business. Here’s hoping the band don’t finish anytime soon.

Follow Skott Bennett at Twitter.com/skottbennett.