Tremolo EP
Like ‘Soon,’ ‘To Here Knows When’ also appears on Loveless. Again, it demonstrates the vague brilliance of that album combining judicious percussion with swerving guitars and soft-focus lyricism. The self-sampling tendencies are on full display, with keyboard synth lines I understand to be composed of sampled guitar feedback. There is more to the Tremolo EP than tracks, however. Following on from Glider, which won them mainstream attention and accolades from Brian Eno, who described ‘Soon’ as the ‘vaguest’ ever mass market single, the band find themselves in the position of offering something which is not Loveless (that would come out more than half a year later) and consequently making a promise to their listenership.
Tremolo, then, has a difficult spot in the My Bloody Valentine catalogue. It is not Loveless—the more important collected work to which it pointed, and it is not Glider—the breakthrough which preceded it. How then does Tremolo manifest the promise if it is not the promised? There’s the obvious answer, quality, as this collection beats Feed Me with Your Kiss to a clear third in my estimation. This is the Creation era, of course, none of the previously released music in the collection straggles.
There’s also variety, ‘To Here Knows When’ prefigures the attitude of Loveless—still stirring in its abstractly sensual manner but cooled somewhat compared to the synaesthesic intensity of Glider. While ‘Honey Power’ prefigures the heavy guitar riff play of Loveless’s ‘Only Shallow,’ a process hilariously described by Reynolds and Press: ‘the riff – rock’s staccato, thrusting principle – haemorrhages: the riff/ phallus fuses with noise/vagina in an undifferentiated blur of lava love.’ That sounds painful. Like ‘Only Shallow,’ ‘Honey Power’ functions as what Kurt Cobain would call a ‘Pixies song,’ something like Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit,’ or Sugar’s ‘A Good Idea,’ which shows even more direct Pixies influence.
It is ‘Swallow’ that directly follows ‘To Here Knows When.’ It brings a more exotic feel in the percussion. <p>While not especially ground breaking it does showcase melodic ability. The lilting cadences of Blinda Butcher’s vocal interlock well with the main rhythm guitar, all in all it is a nice and floaty experience. Final track ‘Moon Song’ is another use of the lullaby form. There’s more exotic percussion and a strong use of cadence in the vocal which is reflected in the accompaniment, too. It isn’t anything that special, but another solid track in keeping with Tremolo’s place in the catalogue.
One thing I will always know Tremolo for is its wonderful interludes. There are three in all, one after each song except the last at the end of the track. The first in particular fades in in such a calm yet striking way. A rhythm guitar and a pleasingly loping glide guitar are met my more sampler keyboards. A minute and ten seconds in length I feel it could stretch to a full five minutes or so. The old showbiz maxim, ‘Keep them Wanting More’ is in operation here. I wish longer versions were included on this collection, but then they probably do not exist. The same goes for the interlude after ‘Swallow’—this time a work of looping reminiscent of ‘Glider.’ Another lovely piece, though the looping strikes me as a bit rough and seamy occasionally, a mark of the times I suppose. The final interlude is similar to the one after ‘To Here Knows When.’ The interludes serve that central plank of promise. Though Tremolo is just par for the course in the My Bloody Valentine catalogue, this is no bad thing and the interludes ensure it an individual place. The baseline has to be established somehow and its function of pointing to the larger thing, Loveless, is well accomplished.
Rare Tracks
With its use of perhaps the most aesthetically drum machine percussion, ‘Instrumental No. 2’ is one of the sparsest tracks on the collection, like something down tempo by a dance music producer. For completeness’s sake it is right for it to be here but it adds little to the experience. The same is true of ‘Instrumental No. 1,’ which again though decent adds little. Essentially it sees the band in rock mode, but little substantive content.
Things get more interesting with the 10 minute version of ‘Glider.’ Given the shorter version earlier it’s essentially what one would expect. Well worth the full listen, it has a meditative feel to it that comes with the repetition and the ‘vagueness’ pointed to by Brian Eno. It gives me time spent thinking about nothing in particular, which is hard under most circumstances. The long form gives ample opportunity to appreciate the subtle touches—the fader riding is just as good and the final phase has an interesting yet subtle variance of sounds in the mix. If you listen to it receptively I find there is a real sense of being in, but not knowing what it is that you are in.
Now for the never before officially released tracks, ‘Sugar’ is a pleasing melodic excursion following ‘Glider.’ There are envelope filter (similar in principle to a guitarist’s wah-wah pedal) sounds in the percussion. This is somewhat reminiscent of the (sadly missing) cover of Wire the band submitted to a tribute, ‘Map Ref 41ºN 93ºW’ in the sense that that track heavily utilizes envelope filters on the guitar. As the title suggests, ‘Sugar’ conveys a strong sense of yearning for the sweet thing. Funnily enough it is possibly the closest My Bloody Valentine have come to one of the Smashing Pumpkins slow songs like ‘1979,’ ‘Perfect,’ ‘Try,’ or ‘Atom Bomb.’ My attention was drawn by Kevin’s cadence which reminded me of some of Billy Corgan’s oft-used stylings.
‘Angel’ is also worthwhile. The instrumental aspects are almost reminiscent of Sonic Youth circa Goo. The Blinda Butcher vocal has nice double tracking on it at times and an interesting sibilant reverb effect applied. I like ‘Angel’ just fine but in a collection as storied as this it would be false to say it really added that much. It’s always interesting to hear more, though. ‘Good for You’ manages more intensity with both Kevin and Blinda singing. It vies with ‘Sugar’ for the title of most interesting unreleased track. While breathtaking in its formal conception, it is made clear that this track was deemed unfit for inclusion at the time. There just does not seem to be enough transient energy to propel the noisy bits, they don’t quite ‘pop’ and convince you they’re louder—so while it is a good song, it is clearly presented as apocryphal in terms of its release quality. With more dynamics it could be so much more, but I don’t think My Bloody Valentine’s issue has ever really been shortage of songs, so why should they belabour this one?
The collection ends with ‘How Do You Do It?’ Perhaps it’s an act of understatement as it’s just another fairly interesting thing from the cutting room floor. It’s certainly worth hearing but it is also worth noting that another unreleased track that first leaked around the same time as these four was not included, the so-called ‘Kevin Song.’ Maybe we will one day see it in a more finished form, somehow I doubt it.
Sonic Issues
A release can only be as good sonically as its tapes permit and there are some minor issues on this compilation. There are some artefacts and clicks which may or may not have been present on the original releases. There is a glitch or tape problem, minor in comparison to the case on the remastered Loveless on ‘Cigarette in Your Bed’ around the 2:40 mark—this is also found on the original CD. It would have been nice if this was cleaned up but I have to assume the tapes dictated otherwise. There is also a strange crunchy sound in the beginning of ‘Emptiness Inside,’ present again on the original but brought to the foreground by the additional dynamic range compression on this remastering effort. Occupational hazards I suppose; unlike the case of Loveless the sonic treatment seems as good as we’ll ever get.
Tremolo EP Dynamic Range Values (Guide Numbers)
Track | Old Peak | Old RMS | New Peak | New RMS | Old DR | New DR |
To Here Knows When | -4.61 dB | -16.64 dB | -0.01 dB | -10.43 dB | DR9 | DR8 |
Swallow | -3.75 dB | -18.37 dB | -0.01 dB | -12.09 dB | DR12 | DR10 |
Honey Power | -3.55 dB | -17.80 dB | -0.01 dB | -10.04 dB | DR12 | DR9 |
Moon Song | -6.27 dB | -16.79 dB | -0.01 dB | -8.05 dB | DR10 | DR7 |
Old Average: 11 dB New Average: 9 dB
There is little to note here, really.</p> In wrapping this up I have to say that I thoroughly recommend this collection if you have heard My Bloody Valentine’s albums. If your collection of their EPs is incomplete like mine then this pleasing retrospective is just the thing to lend broader context to the albums. It is pleasing for extended listens to a whole disc in a sitting and it ably tells a riveting story. Nine or so out of ten if I had to rate, but this is pretty much a fan piece so there seems little point really.
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