Influential music journalist Simon Reynolds has a new book to be released next June. Still in a Dream: Shoegaze, Slackers and the Reinvention of Rock, 1984–1994 traces the rise and peak of shoegaze, slacker rock, and grunge, a period in which noisy guitars and dreamlike sounds brought innovation to music made outside the mainstream.
In an interview with The Quietus website, Reynolds explains his connection to that era and his motivation for writing the book:
It certainly helped to have interviewed nearly all the groups, often more than once, back in the day, and to be able to draw on an archive of music papers I’ve amassed from that time. My biggest resource was my own memories of covering the music of the era as it unfolded. This was the most fun I’ve had writing a book – almost like time travel.
The band names varnished on the cover of Still in a Dream already reveal the memories Reynolds has retrieved in this work. Among these names are Cocteau Twins, Spacemen 3, My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Galaxie 500, Slowdive, and Pavement. The cover itself is reminiscent of the iconic artwork of My Bloody Valentine's album Loveless (1991).
For those familiar with the work of the English journalist, it's easy to grasp the idea that Still in a Dream is a continuation of Rip It Up and Start Again: Post-Punk 1978-1984, a book in which the journalist explores the post-punk era.
Simon Reynolds
Born in 1963, Reynolds began his career at the British weekly magazine Melody Maker in 1986. He also contributes to publications such as The Guardian, Spin, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Uncut, The Wire, Pitchfork, among others.
His main books are the aforementioned Rip It Up and Start Again, Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture, about rave culture, and Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to Its Own Past, in which he explores pop culture's obsession with always feeding on the past.
Despite being considered a renowned writer on pop culture, Simon Reynolds' books have not been published in Portuguese in Brazil. The exception is a collection of music reviews and interviews, titled Beijar o Céu, published in 2006 by Publisher Conrad.
