''Tremolo E.P.'' is an

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

by Irish-English alternative rock band My Bloody Valentine, released in February 1991 by

Creation Records Creation Records Ltd. was a British independent record label founded in 1983 by Alan McGee, Dick Green, and Joe Foster. Its name came from the 1960s band The Creation, whom McGee greatly admired. The label ceased operations in 1999, although ...

. The EP was a critical success and topped the

UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the re ...

. It featured the single "To Here Knows When", which subsequently appeared (in a different mix) on the band's second album ''

Loveless Loveless may refer to: Film and television * ''Loveless'' (film), a 2017 Russian film * ''The Loveless'', a 1982 film starring Willem Dafoe * Dr. Loveless, a character in ''The Wild Wild West'' TV series and film adaptation Literature * ''Love ...

''.

Background

The EP featured the band more heavily utilising

sampler Sampler may refer to: * Sampler (signal), a digital signal processing device that converts a continuous signal to a discrete signal * Sampler (needlework), a handstitched piece of embroidery used to demonstrate skill in needlework * Sampler (surna ...

s, which allowed them to play back sounds on keyboard. Sampled sounds include guitar feedback, vocals, a BBC stock

sound effect A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. Traditi ...

s recording to create a low-end effect on "To Here Knows When", and a Turkish belly dancing track ripped from cassette on the track "Swallow". The title is a reference to the band's heavy usage of guitar

tremolo In music, ''tremolo'' (), or ''tremolando'' (), is a trembling effect. There are two types of tremolo. The first is a rapid reiteration: * Of a single note, particularly used on bowed string instruments, by rapidly moving the bow back and fo ...

and

vibrato Vibrato (Italian, from past participle of " vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. Vibrato is typically characterised in terms o ...

to create blurred, dreamlike tones (

Kevin Shields Kevin Patrick Shields (born 21 May 1963) is an American-born Irish musician, singer-songwriter, composer, and producer, best known as the vocalist and guitarist of the band My Bloody Valentine. They became influential on the evolution of alter ...

' method of strumming chords while simultaneously bending his guitar's tremolo/whammy bar was referred to as " glide guitar"). In November 1991, Shields commented: "''Tremolo'' had seven tracks on it, but you're not allowed to do that, so we called it four tracks and didn't name three of them. People just thought they were weird bits!" The lead track, "To Here Knows When", has a longer and more ethereal

coda Coda or CODA may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * Movie coda, a post-credits scene * ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television *''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...

—essentially constituting a separate song—than the version later included on the album ''

''. "Swallow" and "Honey Power" also each contain an instrumental coda. All three segues/codas feature backwards guitar loops and heavy

reverb Reverberation (also known as reverb), in acoustics, is a persistence of sound, after a sound is produced. Reverberation is created when a sound or signal is reflected causing numerous reflections to build up and then decay as the sound is abs ...

. Videos were filmed for the songs "Swallow" and "To Here Knows When" under the direction of Angus Cameron.

Track listing

*Also issued as a CD (CRESCD085)

Personnel

My Bloody Valentine *

Bilinda Butcher Bilinda Jayne Butcher (born 16 September 1961) is an English musician and singer-songwriter, best known as a vocalist and guitarist of the shoegaze band My Bloody Valentine. Early life Butcher was born and raised in London and later reloca ...

– guitar, vocals * Colm Ó Cíosóig – drums,

Roland Octapad Roland Octapad is a range of MIDI electronic drum percussion controllers produced by the Roland Corporation. Roland Pad-8 The first model, introduced in 1985, was the Pad-8. Originally to be called MPC-8 (MIDI Percussion Controller 8), but was ren ...

on "Moon Song"Tischler, Eric. 2001. My Bloody Valentine: Song-by-song with Kevin Shields. NLINEAvailable at: http://tapeop.com/articles/26/my-bloody-valentine-2/. etrieved 30 March 2017 * Debbie Googe – bass guitar *

– guitar, vocals,

Technical personnel *

Alan Moulder Alan Moulder (born 11 June 1959) is an English record producer, mixing engineer, and audio engineer. Early life Moulder was born on 11 June 1959 in Boston, Lincolnshire. He was educated at Boston Grammar School. He had an interest in music ...

–

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

*My Bloody Valentine – production *Designland – design *Sam Harris – photographer

References

{{Authority control My Bloody Valentine (band) EPs 1991 EPs Creation Records EPs it:Tremolo#Musica