The Breakdown
Slowcoaching is the nom de plume of Naarm/Melbourne musician Dean Valentino, and his debut album ‘I’m In My Brain Again’ is a delicious collection of dreamy songs that seem to float in the consciousness.
Born in that fertile era of COVID isolation, Valentino says of the creation of the album:
I’ve always been a notoriously bad sleeper – whether overthinking mundane things, experiencing sleep paralysis or being glued to the TV at 2 o’clock in the morning. These songs were shaped in those moments of surreal loneliness and it was the first time I really felt a shift in the Slowcoaching project. It’s a big reason why I scrapped what I was working on at the time and tried a new direction – and even though it feels like it’s taken forever, it feels right.
Opening track ‘Younger’ opens with sampled echoed voices before Valentini’s soft yearning vocals enter over jingle jangling guitars reaching a crescendo with its soaring chorus. There are elements of The Stone Roses detectable in the delivery: a shoegaze/dream pop soundscape that positively sparkles.
‘Toothache’ is more expansive and airy with its delicate backing vocals and spacious sounds. The result is something that is atmospheric and layered with intricate sounds tinkling in the distance lending an aquatic air.
‘It Was Nice Meeting You’ returns with a jingle jangle spring in it steps, a shimmering wall of sound and delicate melodies that reminds me slightly of eighties ‘Bette Davis’s Eyes’: pure driving pop. The lyrics are poetic and evocative, revealing a gentle sense of humour – car ride catharsis, static on the radio, I pray to Jesus but Jesus never gave a f@ck. The humour continues in the accompanying video directed and edited by Gina Somfleth where a special dinner (complete with a classy goon bag – Australian slang for cheap cask wine) is prepared for a mysterious date, with a seventies blush.
‘Freakout’ has a dream pop etherial flow, the vocals yearning and melancholic with the guitars dappling and ringing out. Valentino’s vocals are soft and melodic, riding over the sparkling guitars, and the lyrics have a gentle reflective romanticism about them, before the song drifts off into a warped conclusion.
‘We Live Together’ has soft-edged simplicity with just vocals and guitars at the start before haunting twisted synths enter – an altogether too brief delight with mysterious computer blips leading us into the anthemic ‘Mirrors’, where Valentino’s ear for melody is to the fore again, supported at times by a thundering bass and percussion and a wall of sound that pounds the ears. It has a euphoric blast, reminiscent of fellow dream popster Hatchie with its pop sensibilities. ‘Woods’ continues this theme with its spritely canter and a melody that sticks like glue. ‘My Friends the Insomniacs’ changes the atmosphere with its ambulant bass and dream synth sound scapes; hypnotic and liquid. Valentinos’s lyric continue to be poetic with a light touch of humour.
The album ends with the title track, another bold anthem with rippling guitars and enigmatic vocals touched with humour: I was built to leave now honey, I was bound to leave now, honey. Valentino says of the track:
The title-track is one of my favourite tracks off the album. It’s ridiculous, nonsensical fun that I think closes things on a hilarious note. Most of the record’s themes are really personal and at times, heavy, so taking a mushroom infused trip into the darkness felt like the most perfect way to end it.
It’s statuesque and indelible:
This is a fitting farewell for an album that is enchanting and vivacious. Slowcoaching has created an immersive album that sparkles and shimmers with its laconic delivery, poetic expression and soaring instrumentation. It is a stunning debut.
‘I’m In My Brain Again’ is out now and can be downloaded and streamed here.
Slowcoaching is playing live next month, launching the album in Naarm/Melbourne – details below and tickets available here.
Feature Photograph: Aneta Urbonaite
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