Slowdive is the fourth studio album by English rock band Slowdive. It was released on 5 May 2017 by the record label Dead Oceans. It was Slowdive's first studio album in 22 years, following Pygmalion (1995). It was also the band's first album since Souvlaki (1993) to feature the drummer Simon Scott as a member.
Slowdive was preceded by the singles "Star Roving", released on 12 January 2017, and "Sugar for the Pill", released on 28 March 2017.
The album artwork is a still image from avant-garde cut-out animation film, Heaven and Earth Magic (1962), by beatnik artist and polymath Harry Smith.
Critical reception
Slowdive received acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 82, based on 30 reviews.
TJ Kliebhan of Consequence found that Slowdive had "delivered a fresh dream-pop sound that is still uniquely Slowdive", concluding that "Slowdive delivers nearly everything their fans desire in a return: familiarity, innovation, and vast atmospheres to get lost in." The Skinnys Duncan Harman said that the album "represents an awareness of legacy, and the importance of not pissing all over it; to that extent, it's an essential addition to canon." Drowned in Sound reviewer Dom Gourlay called Slowdive a "majestic return that doesn't just fill in the gaps, but points unflinchingly towards future horizons." Sean T. Collins of Pitchfork said that the album "offers maximum-volume shoegaze too, better than the band ever has before", and Cam Lindsay of Exclaim! wrote that it "certainly was a long wait, but finally Slowdive have given us the album that we have been dreaming about for the last 22 years."
In October 2025, Paste ranked the album at number 237 on their "250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far" list, writing: "Every song is breathtaking, from the soaring opener "Slomo" to the melancholic "Sugar For the Pill". While it’s not as risky and experimental as Pygmalion, it thrives in its simplicity, with a precise attention to detail where each instrumentation fills its purpose to create Slowdive’s most atmospheric record yet."
Accolades +Accolades for Slowdive Publication Accolade Rank Crack Magazine The 100 Best Albums of 2017 Exclaim Top 20 Pop & Rock Albums of 2017 Pitchfork The 50 Best Albums of 2017 The 20 Best Rock Albums of 2017 Stereogum The 50 Best Albums of 2017 A2IM Libera Awards 2018Album of the Year 2018 Opinion PoliceThe Best Song of the 2010s (Star Roving)
Track listing
Personnel Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.
Slowdive Neil Halstead – vocals, guitars, keyboards, editing, production Rachel Goswell – vocals Christian Savill – guitars Nick Chaplin – bass guitar Simon Scott – drums, guitar, electronics
Additional personnel
Ian Davenport – engineering Duncan Chave – additional engineering Martin Nichols – additional engineering Gareth Stuart – additional engineering Steve Clarke – additional vocal engineering Chris Coady – mixing Sarah Tudzin – mixing (assistant) Heba Kadry – mastering Josh Bonati – vinyl cut Harry Smith – cover art (from Heaven and Earth Magic) Ingrid Pop – inner sleeve photography, art direction
Charts +Chart performance for Slowdive Chart (2017) Peakposition Australian Albums (ARIA) 64 Japanese Albums (Oricon) 103 New Zealand Heatseekers Albums (RMNZ) 7
References
External links