Song of the Week delves into the fresh songs we just can’t get out of our heads. Find these tracks and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist, and for our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Slowdive return with “kisses,” their first new song in six years.
Six years after their grand return — their excellent 2017 self-titled album — Slowdive are back again for more. “kisses” is the first single off the shoegaze giants’ forthcoming album, everything is alive, and a blissful reintroduction to what they do best.
From the moment the groove begins and the band’s signature guitar tone sets in, it’s clear just how much influence they’ve had over the years — as Gen Z, Spotify, and TikTok have embraced a vibes-forward policy to counter the chaos of the outside world, Slowdive’s dreamy, sedative sounds have been recycled by dozens of indie bands, bedroom pop producers, and even top 40 stars. Shoegaze has evolved from a niche subgenre to an atmospheric sensibility suitable for any style of music.
But Slowdive are more than just hazy guitars and dreamy melodies; they’re also more than merely music to play when you are sad or stoned. Slowdive can create an entire atmosphere in one strum of a guitar, or in one shared note between vocalists Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell. They let their own songs envelop them, the reverb so thick that when the band is in full force, elements wash in and out of focus like windshield wipers.
On “kisses,” the band roots their sound in yet another simple-but-evocative four chord melody, with much of the track’s awe arriving in vibrant guitars and tenderness coming in Halstead and Goswell’s vocals. Where their spellbinding self-titled captured the band almost in black and white, “kisses” lets the sunlight in, and colors begin to slowly take shape as the song unfolds.
The making of their new album was marked by a period of sadness and loss (particularly the loss of Goswell’s mother and drummer Simon Scott’s father), and Goswell describes the album as depicting a “crossroads.” However, in spite of their strife, Halstead noted in a statement that everything is alive is a more “hopeful” record, and “kisses” makes that clear — though there’s a thread of uncertainty that winds through the instrumentation, Halstead and Goswell croon in romantic unison, landing on the wind-swept image of “Kisses/Born desert sun.”
Similar to Slowdive classics “Allison” or “Star Roving,” it’s a treat to hear the band bask in strong, active emotions, the resolution of their chord structures mirroring darkness turning to light. For a band that began over 30 years ago and went on to pioneer an entire genre, it’s remarkable that they keep getting better.
— Paolo Ragusa
Associate Editor
