As a huge fan, I've been both waiting and dreading the moment it'd come out. Was delighted to hear it's a record that was well worth putting out.
As seminal and imitated My Bloody Valentine have been in the past 20+ years, no one has ever managed the same level and quality of sound, depth and tunes, which is what makes Loveless still stand out as an absolute masterpiece in my opinion. It came out 21+ years ago (will be 22 in November) but still sounds so unique as not to get even close to sounding dated in my opinion.
And for "m b v", very much of the same applies. It's Kevin Shield's realm, he knows what he wants and what he wants to do. And will find a way to make it happen. Eventually.
It sounds simply like My Bloody Valentine post Loveless. And it's not simple, of course. Many bands have taken different elements from MBV's music while writing their own, and I found it interesting to see which of those elements figure more predominantly in "m b v". You can recognise the familiar traits, but yet the result is greater than the mere sum, something most bands that came after 1991 didn't manage.
They flirt with poppier melodies, the odd electronic sound, obsessive loops, but manage to still sound like MBV and impose themselves as MBV. I think they managed, after all, to still be a class apart. Lots of time has passed, but it all remained suspended in Kevin Shield's world. And thanks god for that.
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