m b v

my bloody valentine have lost their edge. They're a band that started out with ambitious and exciting approaches to shoegaze and dream pop, but if 20 years have proven anything, it's that they've lost almost all the defining characteristics of what made them so beloved in the first place. There's no excitement, there's no interesting production choices, there's no soul to this music, and, in spite of what the cover may lead you to believe, there's no color to any of this. This feels washed out and uninspired to me, to put it frankly. The mixing is just plain bad, making everything sound far away and distant, and the soundscapes that only just barely resemble "Loveless" just make me wish I was listening to "Loveless" instead! I'm glad so many people love this, really I am, but for me personally, I don't really find anything about this special. "who sees you" is the absolute only thing I'd return to.