The Slow Show will release their fourth studio album, their first for 3 years, entitled ‘STILL LIFE’, on 4th February 2022. The four piece who first formed in Manchester, UK will support the release with a European Tour in February and March 2022, culminating in a hometown show at Hallé St Peters on 4th March. Pre-order ‘STILL LIFE’ HERE.
The Slow Show also share lead track ‘Blinking’ today, a perfect taster to the new direction STILL LIFE offers. ‘Still Life’. Same but different again. LISTEN HERE.
Robert Goodwin explains, “An ode to love and loyalty. The song is a defiant pledge to never giving up on the people you love. Musically we wanted the song to have impact, a directness and powerful punch that we’d previously shied away from.”
The making of STILL LIFE has been quite the ride. Following their breakthrough album, ‘White Water’, it was clear The Slow Show were not just ‘another band from Manchester’. The legacy of The Smiths, Joy Division and all those other great predecessors is not something to be trifled with, but The Slow Show didn’t need to wear their address on their sleeve: this was something else, fully formed, with a mesmerising sound, rich in atmosphere and melody.
With the band’s desire to push each other outside of their respective comfort zones during the recording process, STILL LIFE subsequently offers a more diverse, rich and interesting sound than previous albums.
The tracks themselves are brimming with emotion and reverence towards the significant relationships we encounter in life. Stand-out anthem ‘Blinking’ is a defiant pledge to never giving up on the people you love. Musically the band wanted the song to have impact, a directness and powerful punch that they’d previously shied away from. Whilst ‘Woven Blue’ deals with the aftermath of uncoupling. The idea that meaningful relationships are very often woven and complex, making resolve difficult.
These very personal tracks are counterbalanced with the more topical, ‘Breathe’, which documents some of the unjust and heart-breaking scenes of 2020 with spoken word references to John Boyega’s emotional rallying cry in support of Black Lives Matter movement in London’s Hyde Park.
In all, STILL LIFE marks another evolution of a band that have never tried to fit in any particular box but have inhabited their own unique universe.
