When You Sleep - Wikipedia

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• 1 Background and composition
• 2 Reception
• 3 Track listing
• 4 References
• 5 External links

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Appearance move to sidebar hide From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 1991 single by My Bloody Valentine For other uses, see When You Sleep (disambiguation).

"When You Sleep"
Promotional single by My Bloody Valentine
from the album Loveless
Released	November 1991
Genre	Shoegaze[1]
Length	4:11
Label	Creation (UK) Sire (US) Virgin (FR)
Songwriter	Kevin Shields
Producer	Kevin Shields
My Bloody Valentine singles chronology
"When You Sleep" (1991) "Only Shallow" (1992)

"When You Sleep" is a song by rock band My Bloody Valentine on the album Loveless.[2] A promotional single, it was the first song released from the album.[3]

Background and composition

[edit] See also: Loveless (album) § Recording

In an interview with Select, Shields explained the stop-start nature of his recording, using "When You Sleep" as an example:

We recorded the drums in September '89. The guitar was done in December. The bass was done in April. 1990 we're in, now. Then nothing happens for a year really. So it doesn't have vocals at this stage? No. Does it have words? No. Does it even have a title? No. It has a song number. "Song 12" it was called. And ... I'm trying to remember ... the melody line was done in '91. The vocals were '91. There were huge gaps though. Months and months of not touching songs. Years. I used to forget what tunings I'd used.[4]

The layered vocals on "When You Sleep" were born out of frustration with trying to get the right take. Shields commented that "The vocals sound like that because it became boring and too destructive trying to get the right vocal. So I decided to put all the vocals in. (It had been sung 12 or 13 times)."[5] He explained:

On "When You Sleep" it sounds like me and Bilinda singing together, but it's just me – me slowed down and me speeded up at the same time. Some songs we sang over and over until we got bored – usually between 12 and 18 times. I started sorting through the tapes and it did my head in, so I just played them all together and it was really good – like one, vaguely distinct voice.[6]

Reception

[edit]

Gio Santiago of Pitchfork included "When You Sleep" in his list of best songs of the 1990s, describing the song as "a firework of emotion gone awry, a love song that leaves you so helplessly and hazily entranced. [It's] filled with indelible blown-out noise, shattered guitar feedback, and muddled confessions narrowly escaping the surface."[7] Alexis Petridis of The Guardian ranked it as the sixth best My Bloody Valentine song, stating that "When You Sleep" stands out in Loveless due to its "blissful melody and smeared multitracked vocals [that] evoke a stoned, uncertain kind of euphoria."[8]

Track listing

[edit]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"When You Sleep" (album version)	4:11

References

[edit]

1. ^ Chris Blaidd (December 13, 2022). "7 Great Shoegaze Songs You Should Listen To". Obscure Sound.
2. ^ "Records - Loveless". The Michigan Daily. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
3. ^ "Most Important Albums Of NME's Lifetime - My Bloody Valentine, 'Loveless'". NME. 2012-08-06. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
4. ^ Cavanagh, David: Select, February 1992
5. ^ Gabriel, Clive (December 1991). "My Bloody Valentine". Lime Lizard.
6. ^ Select, January 1992 – from a piece accompanying the album's placing at #6 in the magazine's list of the best albums of 1991
7. ^ Santiago, Gio (27 September 2022). "The 250 Best Songs of the 1990s". Pitchfork. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
8. ^ Petridis, Alexis (2 February 2023). "My Bloody Valentine's 20 greatest songs – ranked!". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 February 2023.

External links

[edit]

• "When You Sleep" at AllMusic.com
• "When You Sleep" at Discogs.com

v t e My Bloody Valentine
Kevin Shields Colm Ó Cíosóig Debbie Googe Bilinda Butcher David Conway
Studio albums	Isn't Anything Loveless m b v
Mini albums	This Is Your Bloody Valentine Ecstasy
Live albums	Man You Love to Hate – Live
Compilations	Ecstasy and Wine EP's 1988–1991
Extended plays	Geek! The New Record by My Bloody Valentine You Made Me Realise Glider Tremolo
Singles	"No Place to Go" "Sunny Sundae Smile" "Strawberry Wine" "You Made Me Realise" "Feed Me with Your Kiss" "Instrumental" "Sugar" "To Here Knows When" "When You Sleep" "Only Shallow"
Related	Discography Songs Kevin Shields discography The Complex Glide guitar Rollercoaster Tour Yellow Loveless Beautiful Noise Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=When_You_Sleep&oldid=1338484018" Categories:

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• 1991 songs
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