Thames Valley, England-based indie rock band formed in 1989 by Rachel Goswell (b. 16 May 1971, Hampshire, England; vocals), Neil Halstead (b. 7 October 1970, Luton, Bedfordshire, England; vocals/guitar), Brook Christian Savill (b. 6 December 1977, Bury, Lancashire, England; guitar), Nicholas Chaplin (b. 23 December 1970, Slough, Berkshire, England; bass) and Adrian Sell (drums), who departed after six months to go to university. His replacement was Neil Carter, who also played with local Reading band the Colour Mary, until Simon Scott (b. 3 March 1971, Cambridge, England) joined permanently, having drummed for the Charlottes. While this was happening, Slowdive were creating a dreamy sound that frequently escaped analysis, but the main ingredients were floating harmonies and ripples of guitar effects within a traditional three-minute pop framework.
Signed by a revitalized Creation Records on the basis of one demo tape, Slowdive made a surprising number of friends with what seemed to be a blatantly esoteric sound; indeed, by the summer of 1991 they had reached number 52 in the UK charts with the Holding Our Breath EP. However, something of a press backlash ensued over the following two years, as the "Thames Valley" scene and "shoegazing", a name invoked to describe the motionless, effects pedal-driven dreamy pop of a welter of bands, fell from fashion. Contrary to expectations, Slowdive's second album, Souvlaki, was named after a Jerky Boys sketch in which a hotel receptionist is enrolled in an imaginary ménage à trois. Despite this, and Brian Eno's production of three tracks, Slowdive remained widely perceived to be perennial Cocteau Twins apprentices. Scott was lost at the end of 1993 because "he got into acid jazz". Pygmalion, created at Halstead's home studio, saw the band move into ambient soundscapes, including two tracks ("I Believe" and "Like Up") for an American art house movie. The band collapsed during 1995 after being dropped by Creation. Halstead and Goswell had reunited in Mojave 3 by the end of the year.
