By By Samantha Nwaoshai

The year 1991 was an awesome year for underground music-a number of albums were released during 1991 that would go on to become indie must-have staples. A lot of alternative subgenres were in two extremes, their infancy or their peak. Shoegaze was in the latter. It was the year My Bloody Valentine released the quintessential shoegaze classic, Loveless. A few months earlier another shoegaze star, Slowdive, released their first LP, Just For A Day. This is the first album from a band that would eventually be responsible for what is considered the second greatest shoegaze record of all time, Souvlaki.

First of all, it does not take a genius to know that Just for A Day is not a Souvlaki prequel. It is an album that showcases Slowdive’s infancy. The sound that would eventually become synonymous with Slowdive is there, but just barely. If you listen to Just For A Day and Loveless back to back, you almost think that Slowdive sounds like My Bloody Valentine being muffled with a pillow.

However, where other bands simply try to imitate, Slowdive takes it to another level. Instead of trying to come closer to noise pop, Slowdive’s sound went toward dream pop. The entire album could be the soundtrack to a dream. The second track, “Celia’s Dream,” is simply ethereal in nature. It starts off very slowly and quietly, but all of the sudden you feel as if you are hit with a wall of sound, made of swelling guitars, reverb and Neil Halstead’s vocals just barely permeating through.

The louder you turn up the volume, the more you feel this wall of sound. This is even more apparent when you listen to the song through a good pair of headphones.

There are other sonic gems on the album, like “Catch The Breeze,” which has a breathtaking climax and “Waves,” which describes their sound quite accurately. But Slowdive saves the best for last. The closing track on Just For A Day is “Primal.” The best part of the song is when Halstead is singing the lyrics, “To the right time / She calls,” to signal that the song’s apex is about to come, but the apex does not come at that precise moment. This moment doesn’t come until at least 15 seconds after Halstead has sung “Can’t believe it” and everything flourishes beyond words. It can send chills down the spine of anyone who hears it. That crescendo closes Just For A Day the way one might close a good book. You feel satisfied yet hungry for more.

Slowdive’s debut, Just For A Day is a warm-up to the greatness they would later achieve.

The Chronicle gives “Just For A Day,” by Slowdrive five out of five stars.