Slowdive was a shoegazer band formed in 1989, lasting until 1995. Prior to breaking up, the band consisted of Rachel Goswell (vocals/guitar), Nick Chaplin (bass), Neil Halstead (vocals/guitar), Ian McCutcheon (drums), and Christian Savill (guitar). The band sought to embark on a US tour during 1993, following the release of Souvlaki (which is their most popular and well-received record) and didn't receive the necessary funding from SBK, their label, for the last two weeks of the tour. Rather than shun a US tour, they chose to finance the tour out of their own pockets and managed to tour briefly during that year in the US.
In 1995, the band recorded their final record, Pygmalion. A misunderstood and widely misinterpreted "ambient" record, it took the dreamy guitar sound and warm yet solemn tone of earlier Slowdive to a newer, more minimalist extreme.
Neil Halstead continues to show off his songwriting skills in his post-breakup band, Mojave 3, while Rachel Goswell records as a solo artist.
Basically everything Slowdive did was genius, though Just for a Day's songwriting wasn't that mature it still has a lot of beautiful atmosphere. By Souvlaki their songwriting improved greatly. Pygmalion was much more extreme and experimental for the time, influenced by early 90's IDM sense of atmosphere, though in todays world of Radiohead and Sigor Ros it doesn't sound so alien anymore.