Though not as big and swirling as
Just for a Day
, there's more of an attempt to put advanced song structure and melody in place rather than just craft infinitely appealing, occasionally thunderous
mood music
. Everything is simplified, as if
Brian Eno
's presence on two songs -- he contributes keyboards and treatments and co-wrote one tune after turning down the band's invitation to produce -- hammered home the better aspects of "
ambient
" music. This is no
Music for Airports
though. On the opening
"Alison,"
the largely uplifting
"When the Sun Hits,"
and the darkly blissful
"Machine Gun,"
Slowdive
are still capable of mouth-opening, spine-tingling flourishes. They've found a way to be quiet, moving, and aggressive simultaneously, mixing trance-like beauty with the deepest delayed guitar sounds around, a sound at once relaxing, soothing, and exciting, and most of all harshly beautiful. [
SBK
released
Souvlaki
in the U.S. a full eight months after its English release on
Creation
, with three-quarters of the
5
EP tacked on the end, plus one unreleased track, a memorable, spacy run through
Nancy Sinatra
and
Lee Hazlewood
's
"Some Velvet Morning."
] ~ Jack Rabid