Album Anniversaries: 30 Years Later, My Bloody Valentine’s ‘Loveless’ Could Not Be Clearer In Its Hazy Vision
After several decades, my bloody valentine’s 1991 album Loveless holds up as a revolutionary force in the world of rock music.
In Album Anniversaries, writers honor their favorite aging albums and their subsequent legacies, revealing which projects have stood the test of time.
Written by Caroline Pastrano
Photo courtesy of Rolling Stone Magazine
From its very start, Loveless is an album that demands your full attention. “Only Shallow” wastes no time in getting to the point, opening the album with the characteristic “wall of sound” that my bloody valentine soon became known for. The song begins with drums and heavy layers of distorted guitar, soon joined by band member Bilinda Butcher’s airy, dreamlike vocals, which find their place within the spaces left by the other instruments rather than fighting them for the spotlight. But above all, this song, as well as the album as a whole, are defined by the guitar. This instrument makes its presence known throughout the record, and the opening track gives a solid preview of what is to come. In Loveless, frontman Kevin Shields employs revolutionary guitar techniques to create fuzzy blended textures that are more sensation than sound and ultimately unlike anything that has ever been heard elsewhere in alternative rock.
Loveless was my bloody valentine’s first project that was primarily produced under the creative direction of Shields, and his vision could not be clearer. The 1991 album was recorded at the height of the shoegaze scene originating from Ireland and England, named for its musicians looking down at the effects pedals they make heavy use of. This is not necessarily apt for my bloody valentine, however. While Loveless emulates the same types of sounds that are found in other shoegaze music, the band largely avoids the usage of the same audio technologies that were common for the genre. Rather, Shields constructs sounds from the bottom up, relying solely on his hands and guitar strings to produce the obscure sounds of this record. The majority of the album is recorded in mono audio, in which all sound comes through a single channel rather than being split between multiple, contributing to the effect of the previously mentioned “wall of sound.” At concerts, the band plays at an ear-splitting volume, hoping to envelop the audience in a raw, colorful manner not dissimilar to a Rothko painting. With Loveless, my bloody valentine proves that it is unafraid to push forward into uncertain territory, and this plunge pays off.
“Loomer” and “To Here Knows When” turn down the volume, but the guitar stays in the spotlight, still supported by soft vocals, drums, and bass. In each track on this record, the quality of the instrument remains fairly consistent, serving as a structural backbone throughout. During the making of Loveless, Shields invented a technique that became known as “glide guitar,” in which the player bends the pitch of the instrument by strumming while holding the vibrato bar. Through this, he creates a wavering yet never uncertain sound. The glide guitar tones continuously bend in and out of tune, but this persistent ambiguity forms an atmosphere that is pleasantly surreal rather than discordant. Bridging the aforementioned songs is the short instrumental interlude “Touched,” unique in that it forgoes the previous instrumentation for a makeup of almost entirely synths, but the characteristic fuzz and distortion remain, keeping the song in line with the rest of the album.
Out of all the songs on this album, “When You Sleep” is structured the most like a typical pop song, with clearer verses and comparatively significant melodic lines. “I Only Said” then feels like a more offbeat continuation of sorts, with a gliding guitar sharing center stage with now familiarly indistinct vocals. My bloody valentine’s lyrics tend to consist of relatively standard fare for ‘90s alternative, with overarching themes of lust and longing, but the medium that they’re delivered through could not be more different. While layered feminine and masculine vocals seem apparent in “When You Sleep” at first listen, both lines are sung by Shields, with one pitched up and one pitched down. This androgynous approach set a precedent for rock music for years to come because male and female musicians were previously regarded separately, oftentimes with clearly gendered expectations for music that they released. If an artist opted to challenge gender norms, it had to be done as a statement; they would ultimately still be defined by their relationship to stereotypes even if their choice was to reject them. My bloody valentine is able to forgo this entirely by stepping away from gendered presentations altogether. Shields and Butcher trade off between vocal lines with no clear delineation of who is singing what, and combining this with lyrics that never take on a specifically male or female perspective, it is evident that Loveless is unconcerned with performing gender in any capacity.
My bloody valentine’s approach to lyricism is unique as well: Shields placed great importance on songwriting in the making of this album, stating in the 2007 book “Loveless” that “there’s nothing worse than bad lyrics.” At the same time, however, the band members refuse to reveal official lyrical interpretations for any of their songs, with Shields once joking that he had considered rating various attempts to decipher them. This strange juxtaposition is oddly consistent with the instrumental side of things. Butcher stated that she would often record her lines just after waking early in the morning, creating a hazier, more far-away effect. In conjunction with the blurred layers of guitar present throughout, this creates a sort of distance between the listener and the music, as if it is coming through a dream. This lack of clarity is not to the detriment of the band’s vision — rather, it is its vision, and the clouded medium only serves to strengthen it.
Image courtesy of Sire Records
None of this is to say that my bloody valentine’s music is inaccessible; in spite of all its technicalities, it very much feels like comfort music at times. While the album switches off between bold and softer moments, there is little dynamic variation within songs. “Come in Alone” is a prime example of how this consistency can be soothing. Its half-time feel gives it an easy, laidback character; the track demands nothing of the listener but to simply sit and take in Butcher’s softly drifting vocals. Similarly, “Sometimes” has a subdued guitar backbone and a gentle melody that comes across as almost lullaby-like.
“Blown a Wish” may have the most unique usage of vocals on the record. Aside from the main melody, various harmonies are layered into the mix at different points, giving the impression of voice as simply another instrument utilized in the production. “What You Want” propels the listener back into a noisier setting than the more subdued landscapes of the previous track. All that was remarkable in the beginning of this album remains, but the further you come, the more it begins to seem like a familiar old friend. “Soon,” the final track, then feels like a reward for making it this far. No new material is introduced in the last song. The driving guitar of “When You Sleep” returns, in conjunction with the layers of fuzz that are found throughout the record and sprawling vocals that sit above. It’s the perfect sendoff, rehashing much of what has already established Loveless as a work of excellence while still maintaining its freshness.
After the release of this album, my bloody valentine did not produce new music for another two decades. Upon widespread critical acclaim of Loveless, Shields fell victim to the myth of the “boy genius,” a title that has been previously bestowed to Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys and Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd. The idea of certain male musicians having a special innate talent does a lot more harm than good, as those that fall under this label become pressured to constantly continue to create and improve, nearly always reaching a point of burnout. The greatness of Loveless did not emerge effortlessly from the brilliant, tortured psyche of Kevin Shields. It was not his inherent prodigy that produced wholly original sounds with instruments that have been around for centuries, which continue to inspire musical artists to this day, ranging from small, experimental indie acts to some of the most notable names in rock. In reality, Loveless could not have come into existence without the combined painstaking efforts of all four band members over several years, and we must thank them for putting so much care into changing the public’s view of what rock music can be.