SLOW PULP are a band who’ve been around the block – in a really, dreadfully short space of time. Don’t wish for the kinda year singer Emily Massey’s had. No, really: don’t.
Things were very much on the upward curve for the young band, outta Wisconsin and Chicago-based – on tour with Alex G, gaining plaudits, an album written and ready to lay down in the studio.
And then? And then Emily, chronically exhausted, was diagnosed with Lyme disease and mononucleosis. The band scrapped the album while she retreated to recuperate. Things could only get better; it was a matter of self-care. And then …
And then Emily’s parents are involved in a severe car crash. And then, and only then, the ‘rona (just a week later, as it happens).
But they’ve fought through, kept the ship steady, kept it together; testament to the bond forged in high school back in Madison, Wisconsin. They’ve got a different set together for their forthcoming debut album, Moveys, which is out next month.
If new single “At It Again”, which we’ve embedded below, is anything to make measure by, then their debut album is gonna be a cracking set of sweet guitar right at that point where it rubs against the tectonic plate of lowslung guitar scuzz beauty. Think, if you will, Joy Zipper.
We also raised our thumb aloft for the grace and languor of previous single “Idaho”, which you can apply your eardrums to here.
The song was initially brought to rehearsal by guitarist Henry, who had only the lyrical fragment of the title to hand over to Emily.
She says of the song’s development: “I had been staying at my parents’, quarantined away from my regular life and my regular people and I was doing a terrible job taking care of myself. I was finding it very difficult to muster up any type of energy or motivation to work on the record.
“I had been in positions in the past where my mental health had gotten the best of me and I couldn’t seem to finish anything that I started. I felt like I had reverted back to a place that I had worked so hard to get out of, and I felt like somehow everyone knew. Back on my bullshit in a completely novel situation.”
The band have also announced British and European tour dates in the ne year in support of Moveys, the dates for which are as follows:
February 15th, 2021, Glasgow, The Hug and Pint;
February 16th, Manchester, YES;
February 18th, London, The Shacklewell Arms;
February 19th, Brighton, The Hope & Ruin;
February 20th, Paris, Supersonic;
February 22nd, Brussels, Volta;
February 23rd, Amsterdam, Paradiso;
February 24th, Berlin, Monarch;
February 25th, Hamburg, Aalhaus, and
February 26th, Copenhagen, Huset. Tickets for all dates are available here.
Slow Pulp’s debut album, Moveys, will be released by Winspear on October 9th. You can pre-order a copy here; it comes on marbled blue, green and trad black vinyl, cassette and CD.
Oh, go build a relationship with a really cracking upcoming band at their website, on Instagram, over on Twitter, and at Facebook.
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