slowdive   The fifth album from shoegaze giants Slowdive contains the duality of a familiar internal language mixed with the exaltation of new beginnings. everything is alive is transportive, searching and aglow, the work of a classic band continuing to pitch its unmistakable voice to the future. Six years after the group’s monumental self-titled album, everything is alive finds Slowdive—vocalists and guitarists Rachel Goswell and Neil Halstead, guitarist Christian Savill, bassist Nick Chaplin, and drummer Simon Scott—locating evermore contours of its immersive, elemental sound.   The new record began with Halstead in the role of writer and producer, working on demos at home. Experimenting with modular synths, Halstead originally conceived of everything is alive as a “more minimal electronic record.” Slowdive’s collective decision-making ultimately drew the group back towards their signature reverb-drenched guitars, but that first concept seeped into the compositions. “As a band, when we’re all happy with it, that tends to be the stronger material,” Halstead says. “We’ve always come from slightly different directions, and the best bits are where we all meet in the middle.” The convergence of five unique characters has made the sound. “Slowdive is very much the sum of its parts,” Goswell adds. “Something unquantifiable happens when the five of us come together in a room.”  WISP Wisp is a 20-year-old Shoegaze artist originally from San Francisco. Inspired by the likes of Whirr and my bloody valentine, she has released four singles – the first of which, “Your face” has now generated over 72m streams on Spotify since its Aprils release. Proficient at numerous instruments including violin, guitar, and piano, Wisp has quickly become the fastest growing Shoegaze artist in the streaming era and was recently named a Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music Artist To Watch in the year ahead. She released her debut EP, Pandora, in April of this year – in conjunction with her debut US headline tour.