Hope—though mostly false—and occasional outbursts of fury have accompanied Dublin alt rock outfit My Bloody Valentine on a 12-year journey to a third studio album. In spite of over a decade of production, the quality of the LP was never in question; MBV delivers a hauntingly fascinating album that occasionally breaks off into seemingly absurd yet exhilarating stylistic development.
Even the album’s production reflects its age, as MBV used no digital equipment to mix the tracks. The analog process can be heard on a number of the songs, providing a particularly crisp transition between instrumental sections that removes unnecessary polish from the wall of sound present on much of the album.
“Nothing Is” provides a particularly clear example. The crunchy drums and guitars unexpectedly cut out in the final seconds to a simple, fading snare rhythm. In fact, this transition is the only distinctive feature of “Nothing Is,” since the remainder consists of a looping two seconds of rhythm. Contrary to the implications of drawing out one bar for 3:34, the track does not become an incessant sore. Minute alterations of the volume levels, whether by mere perception or design, inject variety and excitement into the would-be disorienting headache.
Indeed, the entire LP is filled with songs that simply should not work musically. The grainy guitar solo on “Only Tomorrow” should clash with the obscene distortion of the percussion and rhythm guitar, but the effect is pleasantly jarring. Regular out-of-tune bends on “Who Sees You” should create nauseous dissonance with the ethereal vocals in the same frequency range, but the dizzying unevenness merely directs attention toward the prominently featured lyrics and soaring leisurely guitar solos.
Such functional contradictions permeate m b v, an album best described as confusingly brilliant. The LP cannot be considered this favorable simply because My Bloody Valentine created it; instead, m b v radiates excellence since only MBV could have brought such a creation into the world. Any other band, constrained by the concept of deadlines and conventional behavior, would have gotten it wrong.
Voice’s Choices: “Nothing Is,” “Wonder 2”
