The legendary Irish shoegaze band My Bloody Valentine plan to release a new album in 2018, according to band leader Kevin Shields. In a recent interview with Pitchfork, Shields confirmed rumors that the band are in the process of recording new music, assuring fans that new music is on the way.
Historically, news about My Bloody Valentine leaves fans of alternative rock all over the world breathless with anticipation. Their 1991 record Loveless left an indelible mark on alternative music, but they went over two decades without releasing a new album. They eventually released a highly anticipated follow-up, MBV, in 2013, which gained critical acclaim and left fans wanting more.
Since 2013, MBV has been recording material for their now announced new album and working on all-analog vinyl editions of their classic records Isn’t Anything and Loveless. Shields told Pitchfork, “We started recording [the new album] a year ago, and then we just kept on stopping because of this [project]. So the last time we worked on it was a month or two months ago.” When asked if the band would release the album in 2018, Shields affirmed, “One hundred percent. Basically, the record started off as an EP, and I realized it has to be, like, a mini-album, because it’s going to be at least 40 minutes long. So it’s going to be an album, but I don’t really know how many tracks it’s going to be. It’ll probably be seven or eight, by the looks of it.”
As well as working on new material with MBV, Shields recently collaborated with ambient music pioneer Brian Eno to record a nine minute drone track, “Only Once Away My Son,” as part of Adult Swim’s Singles Program. For fans who don’t want to wait until 2018 for new music from Shields and company can listen to the collaboration below. Otherwise, all we can do is hope Shields keeps his promise.
