Manchester’s The Slow Country go full ‘slacker folk’ on ‘Firing Line’
Some genre labels are pointless. But then sometimes, some genre labels are perfect – like The Slow Country dubbing themselves ‘slacker folk’. In two words that feel like they should never be placed side by side, the band capture their own infectious dichotomy.
That’s only the first of many points of intrigue about the band. The second is the lineup.
Already, seven members are a lot and must be a logistical nightmare with Google calendars and attempts to set up rehearsals that everyone can make. However, they then make it harder for themselves by having all of those members be multi-hyphenates.
On their new track, ‘Firing Line’, which announces their signing to Heist Or Hit Records, the different voices seem endless. Every moment seems to bring in another vocal texture as Joe Darley, Charlie Smith, Gina Edwards and Ben Court all have a go, passing the song back and forth.
A lot of bands would be too scared of that. The idea of there being ‘too many cooks in the kitchen’ can be a disaster if all those cooks are panicking and burning things and yelling and pulling in different directions.
But time and time again, bands will come along to prove that too many cooks can be incredible if they’re all competent and collaborative, working in tandem and dancing around one another like a dynamic team. Up in Scotland, The Joy Hotel are a great example of that, or Manchester’s Mleko, or obviously London’s Black Country, New Road as the many-member unit who arguably reignited people’s dare to do this.
But now The Slow Country are part of those ranks, and they do their dance perfectly as the members each bring a different texture, contrasting Smith’s deeper, darker voice with Darley’s lighter tones to create something interesting. Then, with all their other abilities across guitars, drums, and even Miren Summers on violin, the intrigue just keeps on coming.
Yet the reason why ‘slacker folk’ suits them perfectly is that all those many cooks aren’t too much. There’s a gorgeous folk undertone to it all that brings the energy and charge to the song, but the languidness contributes that slacker energy, keeping a cap on it, but all the while you still know this could bubble over, as it does on their other songs, or in their live shows.
Proving their plate-spinning abilities, ‘Firing Line’ is one that leaves you curious and yet already invested, satisfied by what you’re served by all those many chefs, but also wondering how intense the heat could get if they all fired at once.
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