Sløtface – ‘Awake/Asleep’ EP review: A thrilling start to a new chapter
Last June, Norwegian outfit Sløtface announced the beginning of a new era. Taking to social media, the group revealed the departure of founding members, guitarist Tor-Arne Vikingstad and bassist Lasse Lokøy. As well as alerting fans to this exodus, it was also confirmed Sløtface would continue under the sole creative direction of frontwoman Haley Shea.
Understandably, this reset the course of the creative outlet. Now, under the premiership of Shea, the group operates as an artistic collective. Her curated ensemble now features Tobias Maxwell Osland and Simen Følstad Nilsen on guitars, Marie Moe on bass and Jørgen Nilsen on the drums who are helping her keep the band’s flame alive. As their first offering of Sløtface 2.0, Haley and her new group have created the eight-track EP Awake/Asleep, which marks a resounding triumph for Shea in the face of such a significant personal shift.
Not only have Sløtface been revitalised with the new EP and personnel, but Haley has demonstrated a musical aptitude that ensures the band’s new chapter will be thrilling. Her lyrics have matured, as has her style of delivery, with the overall songwriting more robust than ever. Adding to the excitement is that various genres are on display which makes the release feel more like a mixtape than a traditional EP. Awake/Asleep has allowed her to test the waters for the band’s future without defining or restricting the boundaries of their music moving forward. The decision was a gamble, but it’s an intriguing creative tact that has certainly paid off.
With the new band in tow, Haley has also altered proceedings on Awake/Asleep with the help of Norwegian artist Mikhael Paskalev and producer Odd Martin Skålnes, who helped conceive the new pieces. The former assisted with the writing of the infectious trio, ‘Indoor Kid’, ‘Beta’ and ‘Come Hell or Whatever’, which retain the catchy formula of the band’s early work. However, they also tap into the pop sensibility that’s always existed in Sløtface’s sound but more exhaustively than before.
Whether it be personal experiences or the heady fictional palettes that she paints as philosophical sounding boards, the lyrics on Awake/Asleep are the most poetic of Haley’s career. The story of ‘Friday Nights’ is particularly beguiling. The track is a lucid and honest account of wandering around town that delivers cutting critiques of McDonalds and shop-bought cakes whilst using them as analogies for the high-and-low feelings inherent to platonic and romantic relationships.
As for Skålnes, he worked on ‘Cowboys in the Dark’ and ‘Nose’ with Haley. As he produced Sløtface’s previous album, 2020’s Sorry for the Late Reply, he adroitly facilitated Haley and the band’s resurgence while ensuring she stayed true to herself. ‘Cowboys in the Dark’ is one of the most traditionally Sløtface pieces on the EP, with one earworm of a chorus. Yet, the track’s varied textures and dynamics help to differentiate it from her early work.
While Awake/Asleep is a Haley Shea record, it’s also a collaborative effort which points to a bright future for the new configuration of the band. This dextrous approach has instilled the EP with a re-listenable essence, augmented by Sløtface excelling at every style they explore.
Across the eight tracks, the EP jumps from sophisticated electro-pop to the anthemic, punk-leaning indie of Sløtface’s yesteryear. ‘Nose’ is a bombastic piece that arrives with a powerful chorus and vivid production that almost makes the sound tangible. This track feels like the direction the band will take next if they want commercial viability, the saxophone, chorus, beat and funky bassline have arena written all over them.
Then, the band offer a distinct sidestep with the closing track, ‘Happy’. The song harks back to early Sløtface, with its driving rhythm, busy guitars, and angsty-yet-honest chorus, but it still doesn’t feel like an outlier. It’s infectious and coloured by sharp production, with Haley making it clear in the track that she wants to feel happy more than anything else. It is a high-note to end Awake/Asleep, and it opens the door to a bright future for Sløtface, where anything is possible.
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