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Aug 30, 2023 By Mark Redfern Photography by Ingrid Pop

Legendary ’90s shoegazers Slowdive are releasing a new album, everything is alive, this Friday via Dead Oceans. Now they have shared its fourth single, “alife,” via an animated music video. They have also announced some new 2024 UK and European tour dates. Listen below, followed by the band’s upcoming tour dates.

Slowdive’s line-up remains Neil Halstead (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Christian Savill (guitar), Nick Chaplin (bass), Rachel Goswell (vocals), and Simon Scott (drums, electronics).

Halstead had this to say about the new single in a press release: “‘Alife’ is one of the first tunes we finished for the record. Shawn Everett did a really nice job with the mix. We tried so many times to figure out a good mix by ourselves and couldn’t do it…it sort of had us beaten until Shawn stepped in. We decided if he could handle that one he could probably do the whole record. Our friend Jake Nelson did a really nice animation for this song; it takes some of the imagery from the artwork and digs a little deeper into that.”

Everything is alive is the band’s first new album in six years. Previously Slowdive shared the album’s first single, “kisses,” via a music video. “Kisses” was one of our Songs of the Week. Then they shared its second single, “skin in the game,” and third single, “the slab.” Both tracks made our Songs of the Week list in a special playlist we put together.

Halstead had this to say about “kisses” and the album as a whole in a previous press release: “It wouldn’t feel right to make a really dark record right now. The album is quite eclectic emotionally, but it does feel hopeful.”

Everything is alive is the band’s fifth album and the follow-up to 2017’s self-titled album, which was their first full-length album in 22 years and first since the band reformed. It was #4 on our Top 100 Albums of 2017 list.

The new album is dedicated to Goswell’s mother and Scott’s father, as they both died in 2020. “There were some profound shifts for some of us personally,” Goswell said in the previous press release.

The record began with Halstead acting as writer and producer, working from home, and he initially saw the album as a “more minimal electronic record,” but once the rest of the band got involved it became more aligned with their signature shoegaze/dream-pop sound.

“As a band, when we’re all happy with it, that tends to be the stronger material. We’ve always come from slightly different directions, and the best bits are where we all meet in the middle,” Halstead said.

Goswell added: “Slowdive is very much the sum of its parts. Something unquantifiable happens when the five of us come together in a room.”

The album was recorded over the course of several years, starting in 2020 at Courtyard Studio, where the band have recorded before, but also in various other places. Shawn Everett (The War On Drugs, Alvvays, SZA) mixed the album in 2022.

Read our review of Slowdive.

Read our Album of the Week post on Slowdive.

Read our interview with Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell about the making of the album.

Slowdive’s last album of their original run was 1995’s Pygmalion. Slowdive broke up that year, although some of the members went on to form Mojave 3. The band reformed in 2014 and began playing shows again.

We interviewed Slowdive’s Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell in 2014 about the reunion and posted various articles on the band. Read our print magazine article on Slowdive’s reunion. Read our separate interviews with Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell about the reunion. Finally read our interview with Halstead and Goswell about the bands that inspired Slowdive.

Slowdive Tour Dates:

Sat. Sep. 23 - Toronto, ON @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre [SOLD OUT]
Mon. Sep. 25 - Boston, MA @ Citizens House of Blues Boston [SOLD OUT]
Wed. Sep. 27 - New York, NY @ Webster Hall [SOLD OUT]
Thu. Sep. 28 - New York, NY @ Webster Hall [SOLD OUT]
Fri. Sep. 29 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer [SOLD OUT]
Sat. Sep. 30 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club [SOLD OUT]
Mon. Oct. 2 - Cleveland, OH @ The Roxy @ Mahall’s [SOLD OUT]
Tue. Oct. 3 - Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre [SOLD OUT]
Wed. Oct. 4 - St. Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre
Fri. Oct. 6 - Denver, CO @ Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom [SOLD OUT]
Sat. Oct. 7 - Salt Lake City, UT @ The Union
Mon. Oct. 9 - Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom [SOLD OUT]
Tue. Oct. 10 - Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo [SOLD OUT]
Thu. Oct. 12 - San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield [SOLD OUT]
Sat. Oct. 14 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Bellwether [SOLD OUT]
Sun. Oct. 15 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Bellwether [SOLD OUT]
Mon. Oct. 16 - San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
Mon. Oct. 30 - Glasgow, UK @ QMU [SOLD OUT]
Tue. Oct. 31 - Manchester, UK @ Ritz [SOLD OUT]
Wed. Nov. 1 - Bristol, UK @ SWX [SOLD OUT]
Fri. Nov. 3 - London, UK @ Troxy [SOLD OUT]
Sun. Nov. 5 - Belfast, UK @ Mandela Hall
Mon. Nov. 6 - Dublin, IR @ National Stadium
Sat. Nov. 25 - Sun. Nov. 26 - Buenos Aires, AR @ Primavera Sound
Mon. Dec. 4 - Santiago, CL @ Teatro Coliseo
Thu. Dec. 7 - Asunción, PY @ Primavera Sound
Sat. Dec. 9 - Sun. Dec. 10 - Bogotá, CO @ Primavera Sound
Tue. Jan. 16, 2024 - Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
Wed. Jan. 17, 2024 - Paris, FR @ La Cigale
Thu. Jan. 18, 2024 - Cologne, DE @ Live Music Hall
Sat. Jan. 20, 2024 - Hamburg, DE @ Grosse Freiheit 36
Sun. Jan. 21, 2024 - Copenhagen, DK @ VEGA
Mon. Jan. 22, 2024 - Oslo, NO @ Sentrum Scene
Tue. Jan. 23, 2024 - Stockholm, SE @ Munchenbryggeriet
Thu. Jan. 25, 2024 - Berlin, DE @ Columbiahalle
Sat. Jan. 27, 2024 - Warsaw, PL @ Progresja
Sun. Jan. 28, 2024 - Prague, CZ @ Divaldo Archa
Mon. Jan. 29, 2024 - Munich, DE @ Muffathalle
Fri. Feb. 16, 2024 - Brighton, UK @ Brighton Dome
Sat. Feb. 17, 2024 - London, UK @ Eventim Apollo
Sun. Feb. 18, 2024 - Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute Birmingham
Mon. Feb. 19, 2024 - Norwich, UK @ LCR UEA
Wed. Feb. 21, 2024 - Liverpool, UK @ O2 Academy Liverpool
Thu. Feb. 22, 2024 - Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK @ NX
Fri. Feb. 23, 2024 - Glasgow, UK @ Barrowland Ballroom
Sat. Feb. 24, 2024 - Edinburgh, UK @ Liquid Rooms
Mon. Feb. 26, 2024 - Cardiff, UK @ Cardiff University Great Hall
Tue. Feb. 27, 2024 - Manchester, UK @ Manchester Academy

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