2017 is already proving to be a frenetic year for artists who make dreamy music, with several new albums from reunited classic shoegaze veterans on the horizon. The Jesus And Mary Chain recently teased its first new album in 18 years, March’s Damage And Joy; Ride is planning to release its first new record since 1996; and today, Slowdive has debuted “Star Roving,” its first new song since 1995’s Pygmalion, from an album due sometime this year through Dead Oceans. Now all we need is something new from Bowery Electric.
As with JAMC and Ride, Slowdive’s comeback was preceded by a successful reunion tour that began in 2014, at which point the core duo of Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell made it clear they also wanted to make new music. In a new statement, Halstead says, “It’s taken us a whole load of shows and a few false starts to get to that point, but it’s with pride and a certain trepidation we unleash ‘Star Roving.’ It’s part of a bunch of new tracks we’ve been working on and it feels as fun, and as relevant playing together now as it did when we first started. We hope folks enjoy it.”
Halstead has little reason to worry: If those folks enjoyed old Slowdive, it’s a safe be they’ll also enjoy this. Though “Star Roving” is markedly more uptempo than many of the songs on 1993’s Souvlaki, it still retains those big, bleary layers of jet-engine guitars beneath Halstead’s delicate voice, and it gives fans plenty of reason to be eager for more.