The Slow Show – Still Life

22-02-2022

The Slow Show is a British indie pop band, formed in Manchester, UK in 2010. Their music has been described as "minimalist but epic numbers steeped in atmospheric sonic landscapes" with singer Rob Goodwin's "croaky baritone" as a feature that stands out. They have been compared to the likes of Elbow, The National or Tindersticks. Manchester-based indie outfit the Slow Show work in a dramatic, textural rock style not unlike the National or fellow Brits Elbow. Formed in 2010 by singer/guitarist Rob Goodwin, lead guitarist Joel Byrne-McCullough, keyboardist Frederik 't Kindt, bassist James Longden, and drummer Chris Hough, the band quickly found a home on the European touring circuit where they cut their teeth and developed a cult following. Their albums receive critical accolades and drew comparisons to Tindersticks and Leonard Cohen, thanks to Goodwin's rumbling baritone and their proclivity for moody atmospheric rock. The Slow Show from Manchester returns two and a half years after the excellent "Lust And Learn" with a new album. The surprise is now somewhat gone, because album number four also stands out because of the beautiful and often visual instrumentation and the so characteristic vocals, but "Still Life" also sounds a bit different than its predecessors. Certainly the more complex songs on the album are packed with a lot of beautiful things, but The Slow Show also sounds a bit more accessible every now and then. That is not always a plus, but most of the songs on the album are as beautiful as we are used to from the British band and caress the ear as extensively as they ruthlessly. The British band The Slow Show has already released its fourth album with "Still Life" (officially with only capital letters), which was released this week. Of the previous three I personally liked "Dream Darling" from 2016 the best, but also "White Water" from 2015 and "Lust And Learn" from 2019 were beautiful albums, which rightly appeared in quite a few annual lists. On "Still Life" the band from Manchester continues the line of the previous three albums, but The Slow Show also takes a slightly different path on album number four, although it must be said that the differences are subtle. Fortunately, the two most important ingredients in the music of the British band have not disappeared. Also on "Still Life" there is the musical splendor that we now know from the band and the so characteristic vocals of Rob Goodwin also determine the atmosphere on "Still Life". The deep and dark voice of the singer of the band alternately evokes associations with Tindersticks, Queensryche, The National, Lambchop and even Crash Test Dummies (Mmm Mmm Mmm), but has its own sound because the voice always seems to skip a bit. I had to get used to it in 2015, also because the vocals can sound a bit monotonous, but now it is part of the music of The Slow Show and I wouldn't want to miss the special vocals. The special voice of Rob Goodwin is assisted on Still Life by an equally striking female voice, which creates beautiful contrasts. This is certainly not new, but it does sound a bit different than on the previous albums. The vocals may still be a bit against the grain, but musically the songs on the fourth album of The Slow Show are also beautifully put together. The music of the band is still very atmospheric due to a combination of piano and strings, which is enhanced by the use of beautiful guitar lines, atmospheric horns and atmospheric keyboards. As on the previous albums, The Slow Show's music is often big and compelling and full or even overcrowded, but "Still Life" also has its more subdued moments. The biggest sounds of the band are not only beautiful, but also visual and would not look out of place with the films full of vast landscapes, although the vocals might get in the way. Especially when you listen to the album with good headphones, the ear is mercilessly caressed by all the beautiful sounds and you always hear new things in the multi-layered instrumentation, which you easily carry along. From a production point of view it is sometimes a bit too much of a good thing, but as far as I'm concerned it remains beautiful. Musically, "Still Life" can again be compared with the music of bands like Elbow and The National (a song by this band gave The Slow Show its name), especially in the most bombastic days of these bands. Here and there I may find it a bit too light-hearted, but we have to forgive the band for the few small slips on the album. The Slow Show flirts here and there with slightly more accessible or even catchy songs, but the best are the songs that change color a few times and in which a special twist is never far away. Opening track 'Mountbatten' is one such song and immediately sets the tone for the rest of the album. "Still Life" shows the recognizable sound of The Slow Show out of thousands, but the subtle changes of direction and the use of slightly different accents in the instrumentation and vocals ensure that it is no longer of the same in my opinion. What has remained is the high quality of the band's music. Beautiful album. Again. The Manchester band The Slow Show is ready for album number four. Their first album in three years as well. The successor of "Lust & Learn" is very much in line with the predecessors "White Water" and "Dream Darling" so that unfortunately there is no real progression anymore, but rather a standstill. "Still Life" picks up where the band left them after "Lust & Learn". It partly processes, as the title suggests, the corona pandemic and the many effects that result. That also means that the recordings for this new album went very differently than planned, with vocalist Rob Goodwin with a deep baritone voice in Düsseldorf, Germany, and the rest scattered across the British mainland. The songs on this new Slow Show album, however, feel instantly recognizable. They are pop songs filled with melancholy, which sound dangerously close to stadium-oriented bands like The National, U2 or Coldplay (check out the sharp, pumping bass line that opens the atmospheric, but above all ambitious "Anybody Else Inside"). Even so, this album captures different stories about the experiences of the group members. For example, a track like "Slippin", adorned with a graceful trumpet solo, stands out because it really highlights the melancholic character of the majority of the material on this "Still Life" album. It somehow documents the inherent tragedy of being, the existential trap in the Albert Camus sense. The drama and pathos, almost the trademark of this quartet, do crop up more often, for example during "Woven Blue" carried by acoustic guitar work, which deals with a disintegrating relationship. Musically, this group of Mancunians on "Still Life" remains very faithful to the gradually familiar, classic Slow Show group sound. Predominantly you will find strong piano-oriented compositions (the piano-with-parlando vocal ballad "Mountainbatten" with strings that opens the album), although the album as a whole also includes a slightly rougher, rock-inclining track like "Blinking". on. Other tracks on "Still Life" are deliberately small, modest and completely romantic, such as "Hey Lover" or closing track "Weightless" which is one of the highlights. At the same time, as a listener you also feel that some of the songs on this album sound very similar in structure and sound and start to sound very interchangeable within the entire oeuvre, despite the frantic efforts of the foursome to give it a somewhat innovative twist here and there. Especially in the arrangements: a background vocal from Kesha Ellis here, like during "Who Knows", a background choir like during "Rare Bird" there. The group also tries to include a piece of current affairs in this new "Still Life" story in terms of content. The rather uptempo "Breathe" contains spoken word samples from the John Boyega speech during the Black Lives Matter rally in London. This new Slow Show album doesn't really disappoint, although the group is perhaps just a bit too caught up in its own straitjacket. Anyway, this all in all not bad "Still Life" marks a new phase for the group. All in all a nice new album, which makes you hope for the best for the live shows.

A1 Mountbatten 5:05

A2 Anybody Else Inside 3:10

A3 Slippin' 3:23

A4 Rare Bird 3:41

A5 Woven Blue 3:43

A6 Blue Nights 3:15

B1 Breathe 4:46

B2 Blinking 3:43

B3 Hey Lover 3:37

B4 Who Knows 3:46

B5 Weightless 6:42

Backing Vocals - Clare Foley (tracks : B2, B3), Kesha Ellis (tracks : A2, B4)