Pygmalion in Bloomington, MN

Pygmalion
is the most abstract of
Slowdive
's albums; after moving from the sugary pop of
Just for a Day
to the more mature and more experimental
Souvlaki
, the band began to incorporate even more elements of ambient electronica -- drum loops, samples, and songs even less tangible than on previous releases. There seem to be two prevailing opinions of the album, among
fans: either (a) it's disappointingly "out there," since it doesn't work with the conventional pop underlying the sounds of
, or (b) it's absolutely brilliant, taking their sound into the realms it was always destined to go. The second opinion seems a little more reasonable; tracks like
"Blue Skied an' Clear"
and
"Crazy for You"
demonstrate that the songs are still in there, somewhere -- they're just buried under more abstract sounds than before. The album is not for those seeking a direct and solid song under the surface -- but for anyone who appreciates the indirect and intangible, it's a stylistic masterpiece. ~ Nitsuh Abebe