Slowdive - Pygmalion

While I've always been a fan of Slowdive, I've always found it curious they / Neil Halstead has been so widely cited & praised as inspirational (especially to Morr Music artists) when it's always been in my opinion his music has never surpassed that which seems to have inspired it. Slowdive, while not sounding like Cocteau Twins exactly were clearly hughely inspired by them. This album seems almost an obvious descendent of Bark Psychosis' "Hex" and Talk Talk's "Laughing Stock" (more so than "Spirit of Eden") and Halstead's solo stuff is watered down Nick Drake. At least he's got excellent taste, and it's beautiful music, but I don't find much originality. Maybe that was never the point.

Barely noticed at the time of its release, this final record by Slowdive became a template for many bands after mid 90-s. While it wasn't very rare for "shoegazer" bands to use elements of ambient, Slowdive probably went further than most of like-minded outfits and created a complete experimental/ambient record. Opening track "Rutti" is full of silent pauses and sets the tone for the rest of the record - there are feelings of emptiness and solitude expressed with extreme accuracy.