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Aug 11, 2020 My Bloody Valentine By Jack Savidge Photography by Dan Wilton

There’s only one album that I would ever consider my favorite forsaking all others and that’s My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless. It’s a nice comfortable thing having a favorite that you love so much—like a happy marriage. I never have to even engage my brain when asked the question of my favorite record. It was always Loveless. It will always be Loveless.

It wasn’t, however, love at first listen. My friend from school played it to me—some things hooked immediately; the four hit drum introduction followed by the tsunami of the intro to “Only Shallow.” The epic rock-ness of the hook of “I Only Said.” But a lot of it was too vague—the string bends and pitch warping that are such a fundamental of Loveless’ sonics felt queasy. The vocals were muffled and the melodies and lyrics seemed just out of reach.

I returned to Loveless a long time after—my tastes had changed. Now I loved the dance floor, techno, house, and disco. I had become used to music being a meditation, an environment in which to inhabit and for the mind to rest on. And it’s in this context that I began to love Loveless. I was able to sit with Loveless and let it buffet and wash over me. To ride its swells and eddy, to enter its environment and just be.

A few personal highlights: “When You Sleep” being the perfect amalgam of alt. rock and more out there MBV sonics—Kevin [Shields] and Bilinda [Butcher]’s voices just about reaching to the pitch of “he-ey it won’t be long.” “Come in Alone” being a stately swampy heavy groove, melodies touching the hearts strings. “To Here Knows When” just existing eternally. “Soon” ending the album with its nods to acid house and ecstasy. I’d also add on the Andrew Weatherall remix of “Soon,” which takes the original and ramps up the acid house dungaree’d dance factor.

Loveless is the greatest.

(Friendly Fires is a British dance-rock band who formed in 2006 and released their Mercury Prize-nominated self-titled debut album in 2008. As well as Jack Savidge, the band also features Ed Macfarlane and Edd Gibson. Last year they released Inflorescent, the trio’s third album and their first full-length in eight years, via Casablanca/Polydor.)

[Note: This article originally appeared in Issue 66 of Under the Radar’s print magazine, which is out now. This is its debut online. For the issue we interviewed musicians and actors about their all-time favorite album.]

www.friendlyfires.co.uk

www.mybloodyvalentine.org

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