My Bloody Valentine Finishes First Record Since 1991's 'Loveless'

After a 21-year wait for fans, the seminal Irish alternative rock band My Bloody Valentine has finally announced that it is finished with a new record, the follow-up to 1991’s “Loveless.”

“On 21-12-12 we finished mastering the new album!” read a post on the My Bloody Valentine Facebook page.

It might not seem such a big deal that yet another ‘90s alternative act is reuniting to work on a new record, but “Loveless” was one of the most influential alternative records ever released. Despite its popularity with the underground and its continuing influence on rock music, the record never received a proper follow-up.

After My Bloody Valentine released “Loveless” in 1991, the band continued to work on a new record, but Kevin Shields' perfectionism ultimately let to several scrapped records before the band called it quits in 1997. After 10 years, the 1987 lineup reunited to play a handful of live shows and record a new album. Now it appears that after 21 years, the band is finally ready to release a new record.

In an interview with NME, frontman and guitarist Shields revealed a few new facts about the upcoming album, which has not been named in the press.

"People who like us will immediately connect with something," Shields told NME. "Based on the very, very few people who've heard stuff -- some engineers, the band, and that's about it -- some people think it's stranger than 'Loveless.' I don't."

It also appears that the material on the new My Bloody Valentine record is largely composed by Shields himself, with minor additions to the main compositions from other band members. Bassist Debbie Googe explained this process to Drowned in Sound.

"Most of it is stuff Kevin has done, certainly guitar wise. It's been a long process, you know," she said. "The drums have been added then taken off at least once. His brother did them at one point, then Colm [O'Ciosoig] came in and redid them. There's some things Kevin can't do, like the drums or Bilinda [Butcher]'s vocals, but everything else he can, and I'm certainly happy for him to do that."

Listen to “When You Sleep” off My Bloody Valentine’s “Loveless” below.