Slowdive, Sugar for the Pill

Legendary shoegazers Slowdive were never really a shoegaze band. Though their first singles and album, Just for a Day, were pillars of the feedback- and effects-laden genre, their best work, Souvlaki (1993) and Pygmalion (1995), were more staring into the abyss than at their guitar pedals. Twenty-two years after the last record, they have a new album, and the latest single, "Sugar for the Pill," is a healthy dose of austere pop.