“Their music is everywhere”
Slowdive’s American invasion
“THE first time we played America, we had this real connection to the audience,” says Neil Halstead. Even after their absence, Slowdive have returned to discover that this connection has gone from strength to strength. “Genres that I was into when I was younger, like punk, can be one-dimensional, just angry,” says Beach Fossils’ Dustin Payseur. “Slowdive can feel romantic and sexy, but hopeful and a bit defeated at the same time. That’s what real life is.” Slowdive proved a common element among Beach Fossils’ peer group – bands like Wild Nothing and Diiv. “Everyone was pulling different elements to create their own sound,” Payseur says, “pairing it with a Stereolab influence, or folk.”
Diiv’s Ben Newman agrees: “You see elements of their music everywhere, like American Football and the second wave of American emo, in that it’s beautiful, sad music with clean, sparkling guitars.”
Slowdive’s 2014 resurrection has redoubled their impact. “There’s these bands that were coming out referencing them,” says Diiv’s Zachary Cole Smith.
“Then within a few years there’s a new My Bloody Valentine record, there’s a new Slowdive record, Ride reform. It was a feedback thing where people were listening to it more, then there were these reformations. Now it feels like a tidal wave.”
A further, emerging wave of American bands like Hotline TNT and Drab Majesty are also being inspired by Slowdive, sometimes filtered through previous devotees such as Beach Fossils. “A lot of younger bands from all over the country are clearly referencing that specific melancholy and beauty,” says Newman.