For years, the Dublin based band My Bloody Valentine had sat barren over the topic of new content. But last night the silence was broken with an announcement on their Instagram page. After over seven years of rumours and speculation, fans were finally given confirmation of a date accompanied by a backdrop of previous album covers in the form of an Instagram video.
Currently comprising of vocalist/guitarists Kevin Shields and Bilinda Butcher, drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig and bassist Debbie Googe, the band, spanning nationalities of English, Irish and American first came onto the scene in the 80s. After a string of unsuccessful extended plays, the band changed their roster around until they struck gold with their debut album ‘Isn’t Anything’ released in 1988 on Creation Records. After this album a sound was defined, incorporating dream-pop, post-punk and lo-fi styles with noisy reverb filled guitars. This sound would later go on to be defined by journalists as Shoegaze, and their follow up album would only cement them further in the new established genre. ‘Loveless’ arrived in 1991, to mass acclaim, going on to become a cult classic record in the niche world of shoegazing at the time. After this album, the band struggled to produce further albums amongst their success after signing to Island Records. They ended up parting ways for the majority of the late 90s and early 00s, only to reunite with their self-titled work ‘m b v’ in 2013.
That brings us to the present day. With an out of the blue announcement containing the date 31/03, accompanied by the 2013 track ‘Only Tomorrow’ being released on Instagram last night along with a website and mailing list, fans instantly started speculating. The most popular theory is that of their full discography being released onto streaming services, after they were removed abruptly approximately two years ago. As well as this, it was suggested that the band had signed to Domino Records, an exciting change for the band along with the prospect of all-new music in production, with possible vinyl re-pressings also in conversation amongst social media users. Although new music is just a speculation, a fourth album has been confirmed to be in the works by Kevin Shields from as early as 2017.
