I was
introduced to Slow Club near the end of 2014 while training as a stonemason at
Bath College. I liked them, but it wasn't love at first listen. I remember watching Gareth from The Office star in one of their music videos and being as
underwhelmed by it as he was by his ride on the Ferris wheel. ‘Giving up
on Love’ is early Slow Club and I sort of liked it, but at the time it
sounded like a song I'd hear on an advert containing twenty-somethings
pretending to be teenagers as they got ready for a night out. It was a song I'd enjoy while the advert lasted
but one that I would fail to look up.
But I
stuck with them because the friend who provided the introduction also liked
Joanna Newsom - and us Newsom fans have to stick together. The song featured on
‘Yeah So’, Slow Club’s 2009 debut album, but a cutesy advert-friendly band they
were not. They weren’t about to let the
end of the decade swallow them up. They
were in the process of developing a more unique sound that afforded them the
right to thrive well into the next decade.
Two years
later they would release 'Paradise', an album that contained some Slow Club
classics. 'Two Cousins' and 'Beginners' were the big hits, the latter starring an angry Daniel Radcliffe who looked like he'd
had either his heart or his wand broken. 'Two Cousins' is a shoe-in for
my favourite Slow Club song and it was probably my favourite at the time. It reminds me of the weekend I spent with my
brother while he was studying for his postgraduate degree at Warwick
University. Simon and I had gone to see
Slow Club at Gloucester Guildhall on the Thursday (and he subsequently wrote this brilliant review of the gig) and I went to visit my brother on the
following weekend. ‘Two Cousins’ was
an indication of the soulful direction they would go in as they approached the
release of their masterpiece of a third album, ‘Complete Surrender’.
It was
the soundtrack to the whole of 2015. I
can’t think of another album I’ve listened to more this decade. It was hard choosing a favourite because
there are so many highlights. ‘Tears of
Joy’ is the obvious hit without being the megahit that Slow Club always
needed. And then there’s the one-two
punch of ‘Number One’ and ‘Queen’s Nose’ in the centre of the album and this
really calls attention to their evolution as talents in their own right. A virtuoso performance from both artists one
after the other: Charles Watson oozing class as a singer as well as a songwriter. The guy’s got skillz – and the Z is both
necessary and fully deserved. Only a handful
of artists have his lightness of touch as a songwriter. And then Taylor comes in and does what the
Sheffield singer does best and belts out something so vast that it requires its
own gravitational field.
But for
all their talent as individuals, it’s when they sing together that has always
made the band so special. This is why
I’ve chosen ‘Wanderer Wandering’ as one of my songs of the decade. In an album that manages to create so much
space, this is the song that creates the most space: space for the listener to
move around in and breathe. Space to
relax, space to feel and space to consider those feelings. I slip into introspection every time I listen
to it. I’m reminded of Henry de
Montherlant’s quote about how happiness writes in white ink on a white
page. And while it may be harder to
create a feeling of happiness in a novel than it is to create space in a song,
Slow Club have frequently created the space required to give the listener an
opportunity to explore. And that’s what
I like so much about them. There aren’t
many bands who can do that as well as they can.
Simon and
I went to see them again at Bristol’s Colston Hall in the spring of 2016 but
they didn’t have the same joie de vivre that was present a year previously. They didn’t have their session band with them
this time and they occupied opposite sides of the stage – an indication perhaps
that we’d unwittingly caught them at their peak when they visited our hometown. In
August of that year, they released ‘One Day All of This Won’t Matter Any More’
– and the title seems to say it all. But
it was a fine album. It was released
within a month of Angel Olsen’s ‘MY WOMAN’, an album that completely blew my
socks off. I can’t say I listened to Slow Club’s new album
as much as Angel Olsen’s, but it got a good amount of attention. I was on my stonemasonry apprenticeship in
Scotland at the time and I remember listening to ‘The Jinx’ over and over
again. Taylor’s vocals had never sounded
more beautiful. It was my third most
played song of that year.
Slow Club
parted ways in 2017 to pursue their own projects. Watson released ‘Now That I’m a River’ in
2018 and Rebecca Taylor released ‘Compliments Please’ under the moniker Self
Esteem earlier this year. But I’m confident
they’ll reform as we move forward into the next decade. It must be hard being in a band. But I always felt
that whatever happens they would always remain on good terms and be open to
reforming – or maybe that’s just wishful thinking on this fan's part.
I almost
met Rebecca at the Colston Hall gig.
They were selling their wares on the merchandise stand after the show
and I bought a few CDs off Charles. He
signed my ticket and passed it down to Rebecca to sign. That was my chance to say hello but I got shy
and waited for my ticket to be passed back.
I couldn’t meet one of my idols, especially while sober. I like poetry and I’d happily meet a
poet. I like films and I’d happily meet
an actor. But female singer-songwriters
occupy a much higher level of importance.
I’ve mythologised the ones I like.
Nothing can beat a beautiful female voice and Taylor possesses one of
the most beautiful voices of them all.
And I’m happy to say that to anyone…except maybe to her.
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