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Pygmalion (album)

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Pygmalion
Studio album by
Slowdive
Released6 February 1995 (1995-02-06)
StudioCourtyard (Abingdon)
Genre
Length48:11
LabelCreation
Producer
Slowdive chronology
5
(1993) 		Pygmalion
(1995) 		Catch the Breeze
(2004)

Pygmalion is the third studio album by English rock band Slowdive, released on 6 February 1995 by Creation Records. It was the final Slowdive album to be released before the band went on a hiatus in 1995, and their only album with Ian McCutcheon, who had replaced Simon Scott on drums.

Composition

A departure from Slowdive's previous two studio albums Just for a Day (1991) and Souvlaki (1993), Pygmalion features a more experimental sound tilted towards ambient electronic music,[1] with sparse, atmospheric arrangements. Pitchfork's Nitsuh Abebe described the album's songs as "ambient pop dreams" that are stylistically closer to post-rock than the band's trademark shoegaze style.[2] BBC Music writer Wyndham Wallace viewed Pygmalion as a shoegaze album, albeit not in the traditional sense, noting that at points the record forgoes percussion "entirely".[1]

With the exception of the lyrics for the songs "Miranda" and "Visions of LA", which were written by Rachel Goswell, Pygmalion was composed by Neil Halstead.[3]

Release

Pygmalion was released on 6 February 1995 by Creation Records.[4] The cover illustration for the album, designed by Steven Woodhouse,[3] features imagery from Rainer Wehinger's graphic notation for György Ligeti's 1958 work Artikulation.[5] Shortly after Pygmalion's release, Creation dropped Slowdive from its roster, an event which hastened the demise of the band, who would split by the end of the year.[6]

The Sanctuary Records subsidiary label Castle Music issued a remastered edition of Pygmalion in 2005.[2][7] Cherry Red Records issued another remastered edition of the album on 16 August 2010, with a bonus disc comprised of demo versions of Pygmalion-era tracks.[8]

Critical reception and legacy

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
The Guardian[10]
NME5/10[11]
Pitchfork8.7/10[2]
Q[12]
Record Collector[13]

Pygmalion was largely overlooked by contemporary music critics.[6] With the Britpop genre at the height of its popularity, Slowdive were seen as "past-their-sell-by-date shoegazers" by a music press who were more interested in covering the Britpop scene.[6] NME critic John Harris wrote that Pygmalion represented a seeming act of "career suicide" by the band, for whom he composed a mock epitaph: "Slowdive... They could have had the world, but they decided to go all skeletal and wibbly and make sneakingly fascinating records that will sell absolutely fart all."[11] More enthusiastic was Q's Andrew Collins, who said that "Pygmalion basks splendidly in its own sod-you resonant shapelessness."[12] Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian was intrigued by the album's sound and quipped that it "should spark many a philosophy debate – after all, if music is this minimal, can it be said to exist at all?"[10]

In a retrospective review for Pitchfork, Nitsuh Abebe called Pygmalion "a detour of the best sort",[2] while in a separate review for AllMusic, Abebe said that "for anyone who appreciates the indirect and intangible, it's a stylistic masterpiece."[9] In his review for BBC Music, Wyndham Wallace wrote that Pygmalion "remains Halstead and Goswell's masterpiece",[1] while Head Heritage writer Rust Phimister said that with the album, "Slowdive distilled the expansive aural atmospheres of Souvlaki to perfection."[14] Trouser Press, however, found that Pygmalion "completely lacks all the tension, songwriting, sounds and power of the band's work, leaving only the spatial dimensions", deeming it "essentially a solo ambient recording" by Halstead "that should have been released under his own name".[15]

The Pygmalion song "Blue Skied an' Clear" was featured in the 1995 film The Doom Generation; Gregg Araki, the film's director, is an avowed fan of Slowdive.[6]

In 1999, critic Ned Raggett ranked Pygmalion at number 122 on his list of the best albums of the 1990s for Freaky Trigger.[16] In 2016, Pitchfork listed it as the 12th best shoegaze album of all time.[17] Pitchfork described Pygmalion as a "post-rock masterpiece" in a 2018 article that included quotes from several musicians who professed to have been inspired by the record, including members of Low, The Twilight Sad, Deafheaven, Múm, A Place to Bury Strangers, Survive, and Girlpool.[18]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Neil Halstead, except where noted

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Rutti" 10:02
2."Crazy for You" 6:00
3."Miranda"
4:48
4."Trellisaze" 6:18
5."Cello" 1:33
6."J's Heaven" 6:47
7."Visions of LA"
  • Halstead
  • Goswell
1:43
8."Blue Skied an' Clear" 6:52
9."All of Us" 4:08
Total length:48:11
2010 reissue bonus disc (Pygmalion Demos)
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Miranda"
  • Halstead
  • Goswell
3:46
2."Watch Me" 3:45
3."Yesterday" 4:20
4."To Watch" 5:52
5."Option One (Instrumental #1)" 3:50
6."Cargo" 4:24
7."Sinewaves" 5:12
8."Ambient Guitar" 5:47
9."Crazy for You" (alt. version) 4:37
10."Prautrock" 5:05
11."Changes" 4:51
12."Red Five" 6:07
Total length:57:36

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[3]

Slowdive

  • Rachel Goswell – vocals, guitar
  • Neil Halstead – vocals, guitar
  • Christian Savill – guitar
  • Nick Chaplin – bass guitar
  • Ian McCutcheon – drums

Production

Design

  • Steven Woodhouse – cover illustration

Charts

Chart (1995) Peak
position
UK Albums (OCC)[19] 108

References

  1. ^ a b c Wallace, Wyndham (9 August 2010). "Slowdive Pygmalion Review". BBC Music. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d Abebe, Nitsuh (28 November 2005). "Slowdive: Just for a Day / Souvlaki / Pygmalion". Pitchfork. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  3. ^ a b c Pygmalion (liner notes). Slowdive. Creation Records. 1995. crecd 168.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  4. ^ "New Releases: Albums" (PDF). Music Week. 4 February 1995. pp. 34–35. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  5. ^ "Pitchfork and Vinyl Me, Please Announce Slowdive Pygmalion Special Edition Reissue". Pitchfork. 15 November 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d Tyler, Kieron (2010). "Slowdive: Pygmalion". Pygmalion (liner notes). Slowdive. Cherry Red Records. CDBRED463.
  7. ^ Pygmalion (liner notes). Slowdive. Castle Music. 2005. CMQCD 1246.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  8. ^ "Slowdive". Cherry Red Records. Archived from the original on 21 November 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  9. ^ a b Abebe, Nitsuh. "Pygmalion – Slowdive". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  10. ^ a b Sullivan, Caroline (10 February 1995). "Slowdive: Pygmalion (Creation)". The Guardian.
  11. ^ a b Harris, John (4 February 1995). "Slowdive: Pygmalion". NME. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  12. ^ a b Collins, Andrew (1995). "Slowdive: Pygmalion". Q.
  13. ^ "Slowdive: Just for a Day / Souvlaki / Pygmalion". Record Collector. p. 86. [A] masterpiece. 'Rutti''s chiming, warm guitar and almost In a Silent Way-era Miles Davis-like percussion is just gorgeous...
  14. ^ Phimister, Rust (20 December 2008). "Slowdive – Pygmalion". Head Heritage. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  15. ^ Rabid, Jack; Neate, Wilson. "Slowdive". Trouser Press. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  16. ^ Raggett, Ned. "The Top 136 Or So Albums Of The Nineties". Freaky Trigger. Archived from the original on 20 January 2000. Retrieved 28 September 2011.
  17. ^ "The 50 Best Shoegaze Albums of All Time". Pitchfork. 24 October 2016. p. 4. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  18. ^ Hogan, Marc; Moreland, Quinn (6 December 2018). "Why Slowdive's Post-Rock Masterpiece Pygmalion Still Matters". Pitchfork. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  19. ^ "Chart Log UK: DJ S – The System Of Life". Zobbel.de. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
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