MBV.

I finally get My Bloody Valentine. 

When I was 14, I would trawl internet music directories intent on discovering the 'greatest' music. I watched Pay-TV shows where 'I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)' would make the Top 10. I believed it at the time, but I have realised in hindsight that I was surely a victim of a practical joke by the show's producers.

I can't explain why my search was refined to the 'greatest'. Maybe I felt I had missed the music train at this point. I honestly could not name more than 6 Beatles tracks. Maybe I wanted a quick fix. No time for considered musical inspiration, doc. I just want the greats. 

One of the first albums to show up on any of these lists was My Bloody Valentine's 1991 LP 'Loveless'. I downloaded it. I didn't get it. My ears hurt. Where was the melody. Where was the skill. Where did the bass stop, and the drums, guitar, vocals - everything else - start? Was their music just one gelatinous globule of distortion? My apathy toward MBV was just another morsel of juvenalia I will never be able to explain. 

In retrospect, MBV made me work. They made me struggle. They grabbed me by my collar and shook me, unrelenting in presence, and yet still unaffected by my indifference. Like your typical slasher villain, MBV lurked in the shadows. They made the anticipation of its apparition as terrifying as the advent itself. 

Take 'Honey Power,' found only on the 12" of 1991's EP 'Tremolo'. MBV were charging toward 'Loveless' like a raging bull. This charge can be hard in the dissonance of Kevin Shield's guitars, and sweetened by the halycon chorus of Bilinda Butcher. Butcher's vocals are as much the star of MBV's show as Shields' tremolo bar.  'Honey Power' concludes with the audial equivalent of a warm blanket, a guitar tone defined by fullness and a reverb that ensures the melody fulfils itself in perpetuity. 

MBV are still, somehow, unmistakably true to their inspirations despite their uniqueness. They're equally faithful to Sonic Youth as to the Cocteau Twins. 

Irrespective of my wilful blindness, I have come to realise that MBV are a paragon of innovation and creativity in music. 

13.04.20