Slowly Slowly Delivers the Album of the Year
On the tiny stage of the Grace Darling Hotel Band Room sit 3 stools, a naked mannequin, and a taxidermy fox.
Their album release party may be the most intimate gig Slowly Slowly has played in some time, a night created for the fans, with Q and As and a meet and greet to follow. Everything about the night feels designed to feel casual, intimate, and personal. The band climbs on stage not by the stage stairs, but over the speakers on the side – front man Ben Stewart with a glass of red wine precariously close to spilling in hand.
Launching straight into the album’s opening song, and highly anticipated prequel to their 2019 release ‘Creature of Habit Pt.2,’ there is, for the first time perhaps in living memory, a glimmer of nerves amongst the boys on stage. From every word said it’s impossible not to see how much their latest album, ‘Race Car Blues’ means to them. The nerves seem unnecessary though, released less than a week ago, the audience is already singing along to every word. Ben can’t seem to help smiling as he sings, even through the most heart-wrenching of lyrics.
Mansions in the ‘burbs
Silence in the rooms
I just heard you praying
At the bottom of the pool
Fuck
– How It Feels
Moving through the first single off the album, ‘Jellyfish,’ a gorgeously stripped back rendition of ‘Alchemy,’ and a blast from the past with their 2016 single ‘New York, Paris,’ Stewart reminisced over the last time they had played at the venue, to an audience of 20. Compared to the sold out room now singing along with every word he’s written over the years, it would be fair to say it’s quite the improvement.
Finally arriving at the unavoidable moment, Ben skipped over his glass and took a swig straight from the wine bottle before launching into The New Stuff. While the nerves were again evident in the opening chords, they quickly fell away as Stewart delivered his most emotional performance of the night, ‘How it Feels.’ The power and drive delivered with every syllable was entirely captivating and pulled tears from several members of the audience. Truly the highlight of the night, it will be impossible for those in attendance to listen to that track in the same way.
Following another old favourite, ‘Ten Leaf Clover,’ the group arrived at the title track, ‘Race Car Blues.’ It was hard to believe there wasn’t a vocal backing track running as the entire audience sang along, and the band lit up, giving the energy back and then some. The completely effervescent energy connected the room, and was a beautiful way to close the night.
The album itself might just be the band’s masterpiece. Featuring Stewart’s signature emotionally driven and metaphor heavy lyricism, the record is rich with visual, relatable, poignant phrases that capture and recapture the listener with every new line. Paired with a new level of instrumental drive in its production, a sound the band was just touching the surface of in 2018’s ‘St Leonards,’ the album leaves its audience feeling as though they have experienced a lifetime in its mere 42 minutes.
‘Race Car Blues’ is a must listen, and, though it may be too early to say so, an unequivocal triumph of 2020.