Twenty-two years since their classic Loveless and only two cover songs to tide fans over, My Bloody Valentine’s long-awaited third album m b v finally squeezed its way out of Kevin Shields’ perfectionist clutches last night. After breaking the internet with the lust of blitzing fans, the band’s newly inaugurated website is back up and selling m b v as a download, with CD and vinyl options. Hearing new My Bloody Valentine material is pretty shocking for someone who has been persistently betrayed by Shields’ promises, and it’s tempting to dismiss m b v and its artwork as a mere successor to Loveless, feeding off of its extended afterglow. But what at first seems to be a more straightforward follow-up, bereft of the loopy abstraction of the band’s most experimental wash, eventually delivers on the ecstatic bliss of peaking tracks such as “Soon” and “Swallow” with an ending so messed up that it evokes Royal Trux and To Live and Shave in L.A. at their most demented. Loveless was a grower, and m b v is already getting better with every listen.
Buy m b v at My Bloody Valentine’s official website, and stream the official upload of opening track “she found now” here:
The rest of the tracks have been uploaded by MBV here: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheOfficialMBV?feature=watch
• My Bloody Valentine: http://www.mybloodyvalentine.org