Photo by Autumn Andel
The reunion of Slowdive last year was a great moment for shoegaze and music in general. The British outfit’s return was a highlight amongst the genre’s newfound resurgence, and one the band took very much to heart. Their setlists during that reunion tour were carefully chosen, and it was no accident that every concert opened with the four tracks from their debut Slowdive EP. Now, on the 25th anniversary of that release, the band is celebrating their beginnings by sharing a new live recording on that EP’s “Avalyn”.
On a post on Facebook, the band went into intimate detail about the recording of each of Slowdive EP’s four tracks. They recall that only the bass line and some “weird noises” from their guitars were prepared before entering the studio, meaning “Avalyn” was composed essentially on the spot and recorded live, “possibly in a single take.” But despite the lack of prep, the song ended up being the landmark of the entire release. “We knew immediately that together with Slowdive, this was the direction the band was taking,” the band wrote. “Listening back to ‘Avalyn’ at that time, we couldn’t really believe that we’d come up with something that sounded like that when a few months earlier we were being talked about as ‘Reading’s answer to The Primitives.'”
Take a listen to the stirring, mystical live recording of “Avalyn” below.
At the end of their Facebook note, the band announced that they are currently compiling recordings from the USA and Canadian leg of their reunion tour for a new live album. Details on that should be forthcoming, and you can read the full post below.
