Methodrone

Content

The title of the album is a portmanteau of the drug methadone, used in treatment of heroin addiction, and the word "drone". The album's dreamy shoegaze rock sound is comparable to that of Spacemen 3 and My Bloody Valentine.

Methodrone is the only album to feature vocalists Elise Dye and Paola Simmonds. Drummers Brian Glaze and Graham Bonnar were also brought into the line-up to replace Ricky Maymi who had begun playing bass in the band. It was also Graham Bonnar's only appearance in the band.

Cover artwork

The faces featured on the cover artwork are, clockwise from top left, Brian Glaze, Matt Hollywood, Anton Newcombe and Dean Taylor. The water ripple effect resembles the artwork of Pink Floyd's 1971 record Meddle.

Release

"She Made Me" and "Evergreen" were previously released as a double A-side single in 1992.

Methodrone was released in 1995 by record label Bomp!. The album was released following the departure of guitarist and founding member Travis Threlkel.

The album was re-released in 2007 on Anton Newcombe's A Records.

"Wisdom" was later re-recorded on the band's first and only album with TVT Records, Strung Out in Heaven. "Wisdom", "She's Gone", "That Girl Suicide" and "Evergreen" were included on the band's greatest hits compilation Tepid Peppermint Wonderland: A Retrospective.

Critical reception

Methodrone was largely ignored upon its release, but managed to garner a favorable review in British tastemaker magazine Mojo, with Brian Bannin writing: "Everything moves with the slowness and presence of a disgraced monarch in exile... At its best, Methodrone has the tormented grace of accepting doom".

In 2016, Pitchfork Media ranked the album at number 33 in its list of "The 50 Best Shoegaze Albums of All Time".

Track listing

All tracks written by The Brian Jonestown Massacre except where stated.

Personnel

The Brian Jonestown Massacre

Engineering and mixing