Xuvetyn by Lovesliescrushing (CD, Apr-1996, Projekt 64)

Album Features
UPC:	617026006420
Artist:	Lovesliescrushing
Format:	CD
Release Year:	1996
Record Label:	Projekt 64
Genre:	Rock & Pop

Track Listing
1. Valerian (Her Voice Honeyed)
2. Aquan 1
3. Mandragora Louvareen
4. Staticburst
5. Xarella Almandyne
6. Milkysoft
7. Blooded and Blossom-Blown
8. Hum Vibralux
9. Virgin Blue-Eyed
10. Seesaw
11. Flowered Smother
12. Monar
13. Silver (Fairy Threaded)
14. Luma (Web-like and Crescent)
15. Golden Handed
16. Bones of Angels: Bronze Lit Feathers/Her Tongue Pulled Out: Bronze Lit Feathers / Her Tongue Pulled Out
17. Ghosts That Swirl
18. Mother of Pearl

Details
Playing Time:	76 min.
Distributor:	Ryko Distribution
Recording Type:	Studio
Recording Mode:	Stereo
SPAR Code:	n/a

Album Notes
Personnel: Melissa Arpin (vocals); Scott Cortez (guitar, prepared guitar, E-bow, drum programming).Recording information: 01/1992-01/1995.Photographers: Melissa Arpin; Scott Cortez; Shannon Kerstetter; Andrew Prinz.The followup to Xuvetyn was even more of a mindblowing blast than Bloweyelashwish, 20 minutes longer and extending the spirit of that album's collision between brute feedback and serene sculpture in astounding directions. More sweetly fragile in points than before, but again never losing that sense of overpowering roar, however restrained at points, Lovesliescrushing created an album as inspired by metapop sprawl as more well-known efforts, like the Flaming Lips' Clouds Taste Metallic, for instance. Cortez here plays a jaw-dropping range of instruments, from any number of guitars -- "prepared guitars," "taped guitars," "guitar damage" -- to metal rulers, forks, and various "misc. devices." With Arpin handling the swooned, haunting vocals, echoing through the seemingly chaotic mix like a siren call from across a bottomless depth -- "Flowered Smother" is a particularly grand example -- the result is a swirling plunge into drowned sound extremities. While My Bloody Valentine remains an understandable comparison point, Lovesliescrushing is even more distinctly its own act than before, able to encompass the ear-piercing treble feedback snippet of "Aquan 1" to the blissful float of "Blooded and Blossom-Blown." That Cortez again recorded everything on four-track is just astounding; considering what lo-fi ended up being used as a label for, Xuvetyn bears as much relation to the hundreds of dull acoustic guitar/vocal tapes that flooded the indie world as filet mignon does to horsemeat hash. The sheer depth and range of the performances wouldn't matter if the music wasn't good, though, and the duo sound much more open to letting the gentlest of pop hooks more directly shape the thick rumble of sound. It wouldn't be Lovesliescrushing without some completely gone songs, though, and whether it's the aggressive bite and loop of "Staticburst" or the burrowing growl of "Monar," even the shortest songs can have maximum impact. ~ Ned Raggett

Editorial Reviews
4 (out of 5) - ...extended hallucinogenic waves of guitar distortion, deliberately clashing tones, segments of pure rhythmless static....a positively dreamy ambient etherealism comparable - in completely underivative ways - to sounds of the Cocteau Twins or This Mortal Coil....Lovesliescrushing ascend to a new realm altogether, their very own post-apocalyptic heaven.
Alternative Press (19961001)