It’s rather clichéd to describe any of Slowdive’s songs as “spacey.” But with its coruscating guitar riffs and massive rhythm section, “Souvlaki Space Station” truly does sound like it’s being transmitted from somewhere deep in the outer reaches of the solar system. The song’s heavenly sonics bely a darker undercurrent, though; Rachel Goswell’s lyrics were written as a reaction to her break-up with bandmate Neil Halstead, hence such sentiments as “Curse your soul/I don’t wanna hear you.”

You’d be forgiven for not hearing any of that, though, as Goswell’s lovely voice is rendered all but indecipherable by nigh-infinite layers of reverb and delay, which owe more to dub music than anything typically associated with shoegaze. Even with Goswell’s piercing lyrics, though, “Souvlaki Space Station” remains a shoegaze epic that makes you feel like you’re soaring through the cosmos — every time I hear it, my imagination is filled with glittering spaceships like something out of a David Zindell novel — as well as one of Slowdive’s most distinct and iconic songs.