Pygmalion is the most abstract of
Slowdive's albums; after moving from the sugary pop of
Just for a Day to the more mature and more experimental
Souvlaki, the band began to incorporate even more elements of ambient electronica -- drum loops, samples, and songs even less tangible than on previous releases. There seem to be two prevailing opinions of the album, among
Slowdive fans: either (a) it's disappointingly "out there," since it doesn't work with the conventional pop underlying the sounds of
Souvlaki, or (b) it's absolutely brilliant, taking their sound into the realms it was always destined to go. The second opinion seems a little more reasonable; tracks like
"Blue Skied an' Clear" and
"Crazy for You" demonstrate that the songs are still in there, somewhere -- they're just buried under more abstract sounds than before. The album is not for those seeking a direct and solid song under the surface -- but for anyone who appreciates the indirect and intangible, it's a stylistic masterpiece. [
Cherry Red's 2010 reissue adds a second disc containing the album's demos.] ~ Nitsuh Abebe
