The Slow Show will release their fourth studio album, their first for 3 years, entitled ‘STILL LIFE’, via [PIAS] (Europe) and Velveteen Records (ROW) – out on 4th February. 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 NOW HERE.
Following the release of ‘Blinking’ last month, the second track from the upcoming album, ‘Anybody Else Inside’ is released today, another taster to the new direction STILL LIFE offers. LISTEN HERE.
Inspiration for the single emerged out of the unprecedented events of the past year with the band asking their fans to collaborate with them on a song, sharing their thoughts and feelings on the theme of isolation. The response was overwhelming and many of the shared stories, poems, photos and videos heavily influenced the final version of the single released today.
“Collaborating on a theme of isolation was a wonderful tonic, we’re very grateful to all of the people who shared their feelings and thoughts so generously and we hope that in doing so we created a brief moment of togetherness.” – Robert Goodwin.
The making of the album itself 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.
“We did develop our sound’, says lead singer Rob Goodwin. ‘We had to try something else. We felt we owed that to ourselves, and to the people that come and enjoy the music. We explored a lot of stuff: different sounds, different feelings, different ideas, different processes as well. Some of them didn’t work at all, but some did. It was difficult and challenging, but it felt good in the end.”
This experimental side to the creative process allowed the band to introduce new elements to their work. ‘Some new approaches and sounds crept in’, keyboardist Frederick ‘t Kindt admits. ‘Some were far from our older work. For instance: after some initial encouragement from me, Rob was keen to sing a bit higher on this record. Chris was encouraged to make his drums a bit more present; some things almost sound like a breakbeat to my ears.’
