"it's more weird perversions of feeling you get in a relationship" and referred to the lyrics as being marked by "extremes, because we're entertained by extreme things". Shields noted that the lyrics were a progression from the band's earlier releases as "the idea of composing a sweet pop song that sugar-coated some lyrical horror and sending it hurtling up the charts appealed to our sense of humour" and considered the songwriting process for Ecstasy as "fresh after having made pure noise earlier". My Bloody Valentine experimented with a noise pop sound on the album, a venture which was influenced by The Jesus and Mary Chain, and incorporated elements of twee pop similar to "Strawberry Wine". Shields used a twelve-string electric guitar during the Ecstasys recording sessions and was influenced by The Byrds during the writing process, which resulted in the guitar tones being "too jingly jangly". Writer Colin Larkin described Ecstasys sound as "bubblegum pop with buzzsaw guitars", which was similar to their prior releases and further diverged from their earlier post-punk and gothic rock sound. Jim DeRogatis noted that Ecstasys overall sound "ushered in a sunnier, more optimistic vibe" for the band which was reminiscent of the sound of 1960s American psychedelia, in particular the Los Angeles based band Love. "Clair", one of the first recordings to feature Bilinda Butcher, features a sampled tape loop of audience screams from The Beatles live album, The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl (1977). The sample was processed through audio filters to emulate guitar feedback. However, the music on Ecstasy has been criticised as being "directionless and floundered about within the framework of songs which appeared to be only half formed ideas," which was due to the band's in-studio experimentation with different aspects of their guitar sound. In hindsight, Shields said that "even when we'd finished it we didn't like half the songs we'd done. The record never came out right and it made us realise that we were still too twee". In response to the band's "unwanted reputation for jangly feyness", My Bloody Valentine later incorporated elements of American indie rock music and Shields customised his guitars' tremolo systems, resulting in the band pioneering an alternative rock subgenre known as shoegazing. The term "shoegazing", which was considered derogatory, was coined by Sounds journalists in the early 1990s to describe certain bands' "motionless performing style, where they stood on stage and stared at