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Church & Shields
May 2010ZANI – Hello Gemini
I'll admit I was pretty excited to hear that Charlotte Church would soon be releasing a new pop album. Her last record, Tissues and Issues, was a revelation. A classically trained singer participating in a pop programme? I adored it. In fact, it was only through playing Tissues and Issues over and over that I finally came to the realisation that I was wrong about Kevin Shields and for thinking the My Bloody Valentine experience was nothing but hype. The man is a modern-day Picasso.I now rate Church's talent on the same level as Shields's. Both are prodigious, Church with her voice and Shields with his guitar. When Tissues and Issues was dismissed, and mocked (because of the genre switch to pop) it was a sad day for music. Why should Church be tied down to one genre? It was her forays into the world of pop that made me understand Kevin's reluctance to record a follow-up to Loveless. It must have been the Church-like expectations of the fans that have kept him trapped in 1991, frozen in Loveless time.
Like Church, Shields was incredibly young when he was thrust into the spotlight (burdened with the tag of being the man who would "change the face of music"). And like Church, he was ill-equipped to cope with the pressures of fame that followed. In five years Shields went from nowhere to being considered a world class star and saviour of modern music.
It was Charlotte Church's video for Crazy Chick that made me really get Kevin's reluctance to record his follow up. While the lyrics speak of "broken relationships", the video provides a deeper meaning as Church tries to handle the dichotomy of normalcy and fame. Fame is an abomination to Shields. His reclusive nature in My Bloody Valentine makes sense when you listen to Crazy Chick. Shields wants to live in a world of music, not music celebrity. Church, like Kevin, is an instinctive artist. It's art for art's sake. And the Dylan-like words of Crazy Chick (from Tissues and Issues) made me understand the intensity and passion of Kevin's vision ("You're driving me to insanity/All the things you do/You make me come unglued").
I no longer regret being the only person to get Shields releasing albums. Looking from a distance Kevin is a musical national treasure and a wonderful human being. Like Church's entry into pop, Shields did invent a new musical language with Loveless and I'd do it all again if I could.
Loveless is a modern classic and Shields doesn't need to follow it up. The expectations are too heavy and it would never survive the mythology that has grown up around Loveless. Yet, yet … if Church is able to record pop music, then maybe, just maybe, Shields will be ready to finish the follow-up to Loveless (or even just the remasters). If not, we've always got Charlotte Church, the new Kevin Shields, with her fearless experiments in pop.
Reproduced by Kind Permission of Alan McGee and The Guardian
Original Article From The Guardian
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