Slow Pulp – Yard (2023) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Slow Pulp - Yard (2023) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz] Download

On Yard, Wisconsin-bred, Chicago-based four-piece Slow Pulp nestles comfortably into pockets of nuance, impressions, contradictions – sonics and lyrics finessed together to bottle the specific tension of a feeling you’ve never quite been able to find the right words for.

In that regard, listening to Slow Pulp can feel like being in a room with someone who’s known you so long that they can read your every micro-expression and pinpoint exactly how you’re feeling before you can. Perhaps this spawns from the band’s own shared history and chemistry; in various ways, the four of them grew up – are still growing up – together.

The dreamy songs of the Midwest (United States) indie rock outfit draw on moody shoegaze, hooky grunge, and intimate lo-fi fare. The band made their full- length debut with Moveys in 2020. After the downcast 2021 7″ Deleted Scenes, they put the focus on hooky grunge pop for singles like 2021’s “In Too Deep” and 2023’s “Cramps”. After their label debut single the band toured throughout Europe and the UK earlier this year as main support for Death Cab For Cutie. The new album Yard is their second full-length album and first for ANTI-.There is an attractive Midwestern solidity to Slow Pulp—like Wolf Alice with softer, blurry edges or Wednesday without the Southern-fried crust. The Chicago-via-Madison quartet’s debut album, 2020’s Moveys, tracked tragedies around singer Emily Massey like a scoreboard: the back injury that ended her dream of being a professional ballerina, the double-whammy diagnosis of Lyme disease and chronic mono, the after-effects of a scary car accident involving her parents and the resulting move home to care for them that ended up isolating her during pandemic lockdowns. Follow-up Yard is the story of Massey’s perseverance and the coping mechanism of living in her head; everything—the shoegaze, the slacker rock, the moodiness—is turned up this time, like she’s determined to make up for any lost opportunities. Excellent “Cramps” is heavy but bouncy—classic ’90s indie melodicism and zippy drums (courtesy of Teddy Mathews)—with Massey’s wail buried in a cocoon-like effect that it sounds like she’s trying to escape: “She seems so ambitious/ Talking and she’s spitting/ And I think I know what I’m missing/ There’s nothing better/ Watch out for Heather.” Turns out, she’s conjuring up the superpower of a tough outer shell. “It is about searching for things you wish you had in other people and creating this character in your head that has all the physical and emotional attributes you feel that you are lacking,” Massey has said. (The title? “My period cramps were particularly bad that day.”) “Yard” finds her singing over a sturdy piano riff in a way that recalls the early-days melancholy of another Midwestern queen, Liz Phair, as Massey chides herself with hindsight: “I didn’t get much sleep cause I twitch … I’m a bitch, I’ve been a bitch/ … I’ve been selfish/ I’m sorry I wasn’t there enough/ It’s on meeeeeeeeeeeee.” “Slugs” exudes a tender center that’s in no way twee or wimpy, projecting on a future breakup even at the peak of new-love bliss: “Oh, when it, it all ends again/ What if I tell you that/ You’ll be playing in my head/ ‘Cause you’re a summer hit.” Acoustic “Carina Phone 1000” is dreamy, while “Worm,” with its lackadaisical slacker guitars, sounds recorded on a far, faraway landline. “Broadview” surprises by kicking back with slow roll, Neil Young style. And “Doubt” is casually masterful (evoking Phoebe Bridgers with a harder-rocking band), even if Massey isn’t sure of herself: “Am I not enough or too much/ Can you fix this?/ I think I’m ready to commit/ Come watch me swing it and miss it.” – Shelly Ridenour

Tracklist:

01. Slow Pulp – Gone 2 (02:54)
02. Slow Pulp – Doubt (02:35)
03. Slow Pulp – Cramps (02:53)
04. Slow Pulp – Slugs (03:06)
05. Slow Pulp – Yard (02:48)
06. Slow Pulp – Carina Phone 1000 (02:55)
07. Slow Pulp – Worm (02:28)
08. Slow Pulp – MUD (04:06)
09. Slow Pulp – Broadview (04:05)
10. Slow Pulp – Fishes (02:55)

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