popwreckoning

The music of English duo Slow Club has slowly but surely been making its way into America’s consciousness. The most recent appearance of the act’s sound was of the song “Apples and Pairs” from their first album released in 2009, Yeah So, at the end of an episode of Showtime serial “United States of Tara.” Slow Club hails from Sheffield, a place that most people outside of the UK associate Def Leppard, Pulp, and Arctic Monkeys with. So it’s great that this pair is putting the Northern city on the map for folk rock instead.

The album was released this week on Moshi Moshi, a London indie label that seems to have a good finger on the pulse of the best from the underground English music scene, always managing to pick the cream of the crop from blighty. (And while I’m here, I might as well clue you in to two other bands on their roster: Trophy Wife [from Oxford, England, not the one from Philadelphia] and Summer Camp [another boy/girl singing duo, from London]; if you haven’t heard of these bands yet, you will. Soon.)

The album’s lead single “Where I’m Waking” begins aggressively, almost Sleigh Bells-like. Thankfully, Rebecca Taylor and Charles Watson pull it back with the right amount of restraint. The result is bouncy and fun, certainly one of the sunniest tracks on the album (possibly tied with the equally energetic “The Dog”), so it fits in nicely as part of “the story so far” coming off the success of Yeah So‘s more recognizable tracks. While neither is a “Giving Up on Love,” they’re still pretty good.

“Two Cousins,” the opening track of Paradise, also skirts the noise-pop barrier again, with bracing vocals. Is this the same band? It has been suggested by several British music pundits that Slow Club has “grown up” in this album, most noticeably with Watson’s voice being less young-girly and the duo’s foray into more bluesy, almost gospel territory (see: “Never Look Back”, “You, Earth or Ash”) utilizing their strong harmonies.

Taylor and Watson’s near perfect vocals in Yeah So are what made people fall in love with Slow Club, and while these great vocals are still present in Paradise, the percussion is cranked up in the wrong places and some instrumental choices have been made that are not flattering to the vocals. The title of “Hackney Marsh” is, I assume, a loving reference to the part of North London of the same name which, oddly, is the home of a disproportionate number of the city’s musicians. (Maybe that’s why it’s being immortalized in a song title?) It’s a great song, with a novel – but strange – saxophone interlude with Taylor scatting the melody. The thudding drums of “Beginners” mars an otherwise good song. You’d wish you had a mixer in your hands so you could adjust the equalizer. Slow Club took risks with this album and are showing their true hearts in it; this album less innocent and less precious than their debut was. The strong songwriting is still there, but I think in terms of the execution, people are really going to love love love this or not care for it.

Paradise by Slow Club is available now from Moshi Moshi.

Track Listing
01. Two Cousins
02. If We’re Still Alive
03. Never Look Back
04. When I’m Waking
05. Hackney Marsh
06. Beginners
07. You, Earth or Ash
08. Gold Mountain
09. The Dog
10. Horses Jumping

Slow Club and Moshi Moshi Records are proud to announce news of the British duo’s sophomore album Paradise, set for North American release September 13.  Paradise is the follow up to their critically acclaimed full-length debut Yeah, So, which achieved praise from Paste and Pitchfork, writing that the “Sheffield boy-girl duo nail precious, vulnerable feelings over the course of their sweet (but not twee or saccharine) indie pop debut.”

This past week, Slow Club’s Rebecca Taylor and Charles Watson unveiled a preview of their new material, a music video for the lead single “Two Cousins” on the newly launched slowclubband.com – Watch Now. “Two Cousins” will be released as a digital single on July 26th.

Sonically, “Two Cousins” hints at the expansive new sound of the album, while its lyrical content touches on death, a theme that threads itself heavily throughout Paradise in comparison to their previous releases. “I think we both wanted to move away from our obsessions on the first album, and look more at our families, and how the loss of someone you love can affect you,” says Charles, before adding: “but we do still end up coming back to love and heartbreak, we can’t help it.” Yet while Slow Club retain their characteristic earnestness, on Paradise they’ve taken the lessons and experiences gleaned from the last few years and applied a lighter, more honed lyrical touch to telling their story.

www.slowclubband.com

Slow Club are excited to present the video for their single “Giving Up On love” off their critically lauded full-length debut Yeah, So.

Shot at a carnival in Hampton Court Palace in London, the video is a single take shot of Mackenzie Crook (Gareth Keenan of “The Office” UK) riding on a ferris wheel singing along to their tune in a disaffected manner fitting with the defeatist lyrics of the upbeat song. Tired of riding the ups and downs of the wheel he gets off and walks away.

The video was Directed by Lucy Needs with Director of Photography Dave Miller.

Shortly after the rise in popularity of “Juno,” people in mainstream markets of the record industry stopped to take a look at music in a way they hadn’t bothered to notice prior. Suddenly, artists like Kimya Dawson of the Moldy Peaches and Daniel Johnston, who sport a less than in tune approach to fronting a band, were not only viewed as acceptable, they were embraced as trendy. Overnight, it became the “it” thing in music to care more about the message in music than the pitch in which you present it.

That movement in music couldn’t have come at a better time for Slow Club. Their tongue in cheek sentence structure supplies them with an almost unthinkable “aw factor” that can give any songwriter known for writing cute songs (Stars, Rilo Kiley, ect.) a run for their money. Hitting listeners with lines like “If you came back as the deep sea, I’d come back as the salt,” in “It Doesn’t Have To Be Beautiful” and “There are so many lessons that I never cared to learn” in “When I Go,” Slow Club’s charming wit is as addicting as the butterflies one gets in their stomach when their high school love walks into the room. They may not be true love or your future spouse, but goddamn if they don’t make your knees weak in a way that’s impossible to shake.

Yeah, So, the latest release from Slow Club, is a prime example indie labels in their prime. I have no doubt it could be released side by side with alumni of Saddle Creek or Sub Pop Records. Moshi Moshi, Slow Club’s current home has certainly snagged a sleeper in the group. Their release of this two disc set should turn heads once the word gets out of it’s unquestionable brilliance.

Listeners should be sure to snag the bonus disk, which includes “Christmas TV,” a track so strong it might be better than anything on the conventional release. Hell, to be completely honest, this song might be better than anything I’ve heard in the recent scene. Rocking a happy-go-lucky coffee shop feel and a sing-a-long structure, “Christmas TV” feels like a tune you’ve heard your whole life from spin one. With an addicting heart-warming feel to it, spin one certainly won’t be the last.

Track Listing:

1. When I Go
2. Giving Up On Love
3. I Was Unconscious, It Was A Dream
4. It Doesn’t Have To Be Beautiful
5. Because Were Dead
6. There Is No Good Way To Say I Am Leaving You
7. The Trophy Room
8. Dance ‘ Til The Morning Light
9. Come On Youth
10. Sorry About The Doom
11. Apples And Pairs
12. Our Most Brilliant Friends
13. Boys On Their Birthday