In the past few days, the reclusive greats My Bloody Valentine have been teasing something new on social media, finding an unlikely collaborator in former Sopranos star Michael Imperioli. On Instagram, Imperioli wrote that we should “stay tuned for something bloody exciting in the works,” and the band’s own Twitter teased that an announcement would happen 3/31. Some people got their hopes up about new music from the band. That’s not what’s happening. Instead, MBV have signed with Domino, and they’ve put their full catalog up on streaming. But we could’ve gotten new music. Maybe we will soon!

Talking to The New York Times, bandleader Kevin Shields says that the band actually had plans to put out two more albums: “Our original plan was we would record both the albums back-to-back and then go tour on that. And that would have been this year, you know, but everything really did slow down.” Thanks, COVID. (To be fair, there’s been talk of a new MBV record for a long time.)

Still, the news that the full MBV catalogue is on streaming is itself significant. Right now, you can hear two two canonical classics, 1988’s Isn’t Anything and 1991’s Loveless, as well as the great 2013 comeback album m b v, the latter of which has never been available on streaming services. There’s also a new collection called ep’s 1988-1991 and rare tracks. For this band, that’s required listening; much of their best music appeared on the EPs.

Talking to the Times, Kevin Shields explains, “My nieces and nephews — they would complain to me, because when they would try and show their friends, they can’t find it anywhere. They’re like, ‘Why are you so purposely obscure? You know, it seems stupid.’ That kind of stuff that made me think, ‘Yeah, I guess my perception of the world isn’t the world.’ There’s a whole world out there I know nothing about.”

On the subject of new music, Shields says, “Time is a bit more precious. I don’t want to be 70-something wanting to make the next record after m b v. I think it’d be cooler to make one now.” Meanwhile, his bandmate Bilinda Butcher is confident that they’ll get around to recording this new music soon: “I think once I can get over to Ireland it will get done very quickly, as my vocals are often the last thing to be recorded. They’ll probably be finished by the end of the year.” (Three years ago, the band debuted a new song at an Oakland show.)

Meanwhile, Domino has also announced physical reissues of all three My Bloody Valentine albums and the compilation. All of them will be out 5/21, and you can pre-order them here.