Artist

Slowdive

1989-1995, 2014-present·Reading

Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell had known each other since childhood, performing together in school musicals before forming Slowdive in Reading in October 1989. Where My Bloody Valentine assaulted, Slowdive seduced—their reference points ran to Pink Floyd and the Cure rather than the Sex Pistols, and Halstead's production instincts favored dreaminess over aggression. The band bore the brunt of the UK press's backlash against shoegaze in the early '90s, and split by 1995. They reunited in 2014 and have proved unwilling to settle into nostalgia: their 2023 album Everything Is Alive grew out of electronic demos Halstead built at his studio on a Cornwall airfield during lockdown, expanded with engineer Ian Davenport at the Courtyard Studios in Abingdon—the same room where they cut their 1991 debut, down to the same sofa in the lounge, as Halstead told Mojo. "We've always tried to work as a pretty solid democracy," he said, describing a band where bassist Nick Chaplin pushes back against anything too ambient and Halstead admits he's "quite happy to make long, boring music." Goswell has described the band's ongoing appeal simply: she likes to think their music brings people balance, she told Loud and Quiet, even if only for forty minutes at a time.

At a glance

Active
1989–1995, 2014–present
From
Reading, UK
Records in the issues
3 (1991–1995)
Original label
Creation Records
Listening guide track
“When the Sun Hits”

Listen

In the Shoegaze and Dreampop listening guide: “When the Sun Hits”

Spotify

In the issues

  • Shoegaze and Dreampop
    Principal · 1982-1997

    Shoegaze and Dreampop is a genre from Thames Valley and London, UK, 1982–1997. Its principal artists include My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Ride and Cocteau Twins. This issue covers 10 essential albums and 16 dated events.

Records

Family tree

Bands that shared members with Slowdive, and who.

  • The Pumpkin Fairies1988–1989
    Adrian Sell, Neil Halstead, Nick Chaplin, Rachel Goswell
  • Mojave 31994–
    Ian McCutcheon, Neil Halstead, Rachel Goswell

Places

  • The Falcon
    Camden, London · 1980s-present · Shoegaze and Dreampop

    This Camden venue hosted regular shoegaze shows and became a key meeting point for 'The Scene That Celebrates Itself,' where bands like Ride, Slowdive, and Moose would attend each other's performances.

  • Creation Records Office
    London · 1983-1999 · Shoegaze and Dreampop

    Alan McGee's label headquarters became the epicenter of shoegaze as he signed My Bloody Valentine, Ride, and Slowdive, giving them artistic freedom despite the financial risks that nearly destroyed the label.

Voices

Quotations from the issues, each matched word for word against the source it links to.

“Particularly as you get older, you realise there's no point in doing this if you don't get on”
Rachel Goswell, Slowdive singer. Source · Shoegaze and Dreampop