Written by: Mike Dimitriou
Schoolkids Records has announced the June release of the brand new album by San Francisco’s dream pop indie outfit SLOWNESS.
The record is entitled Berths LP and ahead of that the band has just released the official video of the leading track Rose. This is beautiful music by a band with clear intentions and confidence in their concept; it’s dream pop music with a subtle shoegaze hint that traces back to San Francisco’s psychedelic epoch. These are catchy and engaging melodies that come like a hypnotic reflection from the past.
Formed in 2008 in San Francisco, Julie Lynn and Geoffrey Scott started recording demos, crossing and tripping over wires from the pod to the four-track recorder. In 2009, they enlisted Erik Karl on drums to help turn those demos into the songs that would become their 2011 debut EP Hopeless but Otherwise. Eventually, Lynn and Scott were joined by drummer Christy Davis, who has been playing for over 30 years with a wide variety of NYC artists, including Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz, downtown avant-garde artist Rebecca Moore, and political activist Reverend Billy.
Slowness’ sonic attack runs mostly mid-tempo and their sonic soundscapes are imbued with shoegaze/dream pop elements with flashes of slowcore, psych rock, even Krautrock, too. The singer and guitarist of the band Geoffrey Scott say about the record: “This is a very personal record. It’s taken a while to make for several reasons. When we started recording during the summer of 2014, we knew wanted a slower, heavier record to reflect the current American grain.”
He goes on to explain more on Rose: “This song was originally written about a clamorous neighbor and the need to get away from the rage on the other side of the wall. You may have noticed that the couple on the album cover are the two people in the video. Those two people happen to be my parents. Last summer was their 50th anniversary and I saw the picture on their dining room table, as my mom had laid out a plethora of photos for people to see. This one struck me as poignant outside of my relationship to them and asked if I could use it for our record. So, So the vibe of the album cover, and the Rose video, is diametrically opposed to the content of the song and the lyrics on the whole record, which are pretty sad and dark.”
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