# My Bloody Valentine — Only Shallow

My Bloody Valentine’s Only Shallow (1991) appears on 3 of our lists — Shoegaze, The Waxonia Desk — A Way In, and The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred, highest at No. 1 in Shoegaze. Every verdict, in full.

- **Released:** 1991
- **Label:** Creation
- **On:** Shoegaze, The Waxonia Desk — A Way In, and The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred
- **Updated:** 2026-08-29
- **Artist:** [My Bloody Valentine](https://waxonia.com/artist/my-bloody-valentine/)
- **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/track/my-bloody-valentine--only-shallow/

## What 3 lists say

### No. 1 in [Shoegaze](https://waxonia.com/genre/shoegaze/)

Four snare hits and then the most disorienting guitar sound ever pressed to record. Kevin Shields bent pitch with a tremolo arm until the instrument stopped behaving like a guitar.

### Picked by [The Waxonia Desk — A Way In](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/)

Four snare hits and then a wall. Shoegaze is often described as vague; this is the record that shows how precisely engineered the vagueness has to be before it works.

### Picked by [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/)

Four snare hits and then a guitar sound nobody has satisfactorily explained since. The loudest record here, and the most delicate.

## Analysis

7 sections, no single moment the energy jumps to.

- **Tempo:** 112.3 BPM — holds throughout
- **Dynamic range:** 4.3 dB — compressed hard — very little between the quiet and the loud
- **Length:** 3:42

- `0:00` A · **peak**, instrumental — sits at the top of this record's range — playing: drums, bass, other
- `0:25` B · **breakdown** (bar 12), sung — energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning — playing: drums, bass, vocals, other
- `1:10` A · **peak** (bar 33), instrumental — sits at the top of this record's range — playing: drums, bass, other
- `1:22` B · **breakdown** (bar 39), sung — energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning — playing: drums, bass, vocals, other
- `2:06` A · **peak** (bar 59), instrumental — sits at the top of this record's range — playing: drums, bass, other
- `2:29` B · **breakdown** (bar 70), sung — energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning — playing: drums, bass, vocals, other
- `3:14` A · **steady** (bar 91), instrumental — holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling — playing: drums, bass, other

**What is playing.** Separated into parts by a source-separation model, so each lane is the instrument it names.

- **drums:** the drum kit, separated from the mix
- **bass:** the bass part, separated from the mix
- **vocals:** the voice, separated from the mix
- **other:** everything else — synths, guitars, keys, strings

Measured from the YouTube master on 2026-08-29. Section labels describe how the energy
moves, not musical form. Anything we were not confident enough to state is omitted
rather than hedged.

## Listen

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/My%20Bloody%20Valentine%20Only%20Shallow) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=nwfCoKNI5hs)

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