With Kevin Shields rightly elevated to the restricted pantheon of living geniuses, the contribution of the rest of the gang to the My Bloody Valentine entity has often been relegated to the shadows. Which, given the obsessive nature and central role of the mastermind Shields, is not so much surprising as vaguely unfair to his precious contribution, both in the band of ‘Isn’t Anything’ and in later endeavours during the band’s long hiatus. In My Bloody Valentine, Deb Googe is, along with Colm Ó Cíosóig, the whirlwind of energy and effervescence in the face of the shoegaze passivity of the Shields/Butcher pair, and it is also from her that we recognise the dizzying descent of ‘Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside)’ and the thunder of ‘Feed Me With Your Kiss’. But it wouldn’t be fair to consign her to the role of the band that cost Creation the most money.
Always active, Googe’s entire post-96 career has been marked by tireless endeavour, starting with the formation of Snowpony with former Stereolab keyboardist Katherine Gifford, whose indie bent along the lines of original post-rockers like Laika or Pram was marked by two albums and a good number of singles that have since been forgotten. After her departure and a stint with Primal Scream, in recent times we’ve been following Googe as bassist in Thurston Moore’s band and we’re awaiting the result of a new band that brings her together with Brix Smith, ex-The Fall. In a more personal turn, Googe appears here to reveal her first public solo intentions as Googie. Revealing herself beyond her craft as a bassist, da Googie’s music is made up of a dreamy dolence born of sleepy beats, field recordings, electronic textures drenched in reverb, her placid voice and, of course, bass lines that indulge in both cavernous noise and crystalline harmonies. BS
