Slow Club’s debut album Yeah, So is one of my top five favorite albums of 2010. The follow-up Paradise had a lot to prove. This album isn’t claiming to bring you to a “state of bliss,” as the name might suggest, but conjures mixed feelings about themes of love, loss, heartbreak, and occasionally sex.
“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 co-songwriter and guitarist Charles Watson, before adding: “but we do still end up coming back to love and heartbreak, we can’t help it.”
“So, death and shagging pretty much sum this album up,” says Rebecca Taylor, the duo’s other half. “Yeah,” agrees Charles sardonically, “cocks, fannies and death. That’s our thing.”
Paradise starts with an ending. The intro to the album “Two Cousins” is an orchestral-style cinematic finale, layered with echoing vocals and driving snare beats marching it along. Like high-kicking rockets or the airport scene in Love Actually, it pulls from the listener a sigh and a half-smile. The lyrics of the song are dejected yet perseverant (in usual Slow Club style), a parade for the lonely-hearted. “So I say / I’ll go another day / and maybe you’ll understand / I’ll look into your eyes / and you don’t know who I am.”
If the album starts with the end, where does it go from here? With “Two Cousins” fairly divergent from the more folk-influenced Yeah, So, I was a little nervous that this “finale” would mark the start of something new for the Brit duo. Fortunately, Paradise has managed to preserve the best parts of the duos’ style while doing a bit of re-inventing and re-imagining creating something wholly new but perfectly, essentially Slow Club.
“If We’re Still Alive” is the immediate reassurance that the Slow Club I know and love is here to stay. Big bass beats and interweaving vocals in a dreamy pop song. With the sort of cynicism, love-lost, and childish hopefulness that preoccupies my favorite tracks from Yeah, So like “It Doesn’t Have to Be Beautiful” and “Giving Up on Love,” this track tugs at the heart strings but in a way that leaves no room for melancholy, and pushes right through to a sense of freedom and I-didn’t-need-you-anyway.
“Never Look Back” lets the 50s doo-wop influences shine through in a sweeping and dream-inspired bluesy track. Then there’s “Where I’m Waking” popping right back into the upbeat, if a little more rock, with gang vocals in the chorus leading into Rebecca and Charles’ harmonies. “Hackney Marsh” is a much better attempt at a sweet lullaby than the similar “Dance Till the Morning Light” from Yeah, So, joining Charles’ falsetto with Rebecca’s sweet alto timbre. The other songs waver between these styles–some upbeat and bursting with energy, and others dreamy folk-tinged lullabies. I tend to enjoy the former better than the latter, putting on repeat tracks like “Beginners,” and “The Dog” along with “Never Look Back” and the two introductory tracks.
With Paradise, Slow Club is (as usual) celebrating the bitter sweet. So cheers your ex, pack your bags, make a break for it, and bring Paradise along for the drive. Not to speak too soon, but Paradise will almost certainly make my top 10 list this year.
Upcoming North American Tour Dates
Nov 03 – New York, NY – Mercury Lounge
Nov 04 – Brooklyn, NY – Rock Shop
Nov 06 – Los Angeles, CA – The Echo
More TBA
Track Listing
1. Two Cousins
2. If We’re Still Alive
3. Never Look Back
4. Where I’m Waking
5. Hackney Marsh
6. Beginners
7. You, Earth, Or Ash
8. Gold Mountain
9. The Dog
10. Horses Jumping
Bonus Tracks
Paradise
Half Drunk
Palms
Two Cousins (Acoustic)
Never Look Back (Acoustic)
Two Cousins (Malcolm & Aidan Moffat 1999 Version)
Bonus Video
Two Cousins
Paradise (Live)
Wild Blue Milk (Live)
