Many of us can link a certain album to pivotal moments in our lives. Whether it’s the first record you bought with your own money, the chord you first learnt to play on guitar, the song that soundtracked your first kiss, the album that got you those awkward and painful pubescent years or the one that set off light bulbs in your brain and inspired you to take a big leap of faith into the unknown – music is often the catalyst for change in our lives and can even help shape who we become.
In this Love Letter To A Record series, Music Feeds asks artists to reflect on their relationship with music and share with us stories about the effect music has had on their lives.
Damian, Echo Adore – My Bloody Valentine, LOVELESS, (1991)
Dear Loveless,
You are one of those records that forever changed the course of my musical trajectory, opening me to a world of repetitive fuzzed-out guitars, elusive female vocals and all done with minimalistic candor. You were the perfect missing piece to my musical puzzle. I was eighteen at the time and I just started my first band, and like every teenager full of hunger for the unknown, I was on a mission to discover as many bands as possible that would shape my own artistic flare.
Back in 2006 myself and my good friend Shaun (guitarist at the time), would hang in his shed all day, smoke weed and listen to his CD collection. Shaun was a much more seasoned musician than me and an avid fan of unconventional artists such as Throbbing Gristle, Can, Aphex Twin etc. Somewhere among his eclectic cd collection was My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless with a pink distorted image of a guitar as the front cover, an alluring image that quintessentially encapsulates the sound of the record. He put the album on and we listened to it from start to finish. We were silent during the whole duration of this listening initiation while I was entranced and bemused at what was coming out of the speakers. To me, My Bloody Valentine seemed like a band from another planet. Soon after that initial experience I went home and browsed the internet, hunting down every bit of information about them that I could lay my eyes on.
Fun fact: most of the signature sounds on this record were predominantly achieved with fuzz, reversed reverb and a tremolo bar. To my own surprise, a very minimal amount of effects were ever utilised. Immediately upon hearing Loveless, I visited my local music store and purchased a sparkly purple Fender Jazzmaster, ready to create my own sonic tapestry. It’s difficult to single out individual songs for praise, as the album is really a seamless whole, though I can recommend both ‘When You Sleep’ and ‘Sometimes’ as great introductory tracks for new listeners.
So to you my dear Loveless, I thank you for your brilliance and your endless inspiration.
With Love,
Damian
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