A NOTE ON ALBUM ART: Please disregard the disturbing headshots of those two glaringly EMO KIDS proclaiming themselves to be the members of this similarly emo-nomed band. (Yes dears, they are called “Slow Club”.) Clearly these embarrassments to haircuts everywhere abducted and had their way with the actual performers on this record, who, judging by their voices, must be ADORABLE corn-fed honkies now tied to said emokids’ rafters by their straw-blond braids and coveralls. Oh, the horror.

THE REVIEW: Boy-and-girl voxed cute acoustic English country-tinged folk/indie rock out of Sheffield. Used to be in this other band, The Lonely Hearts. Feelin the Bright Eyes (ie, I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning). Also: The Lower 48. Kimya Dawson. Tilly and the Wall. Very stretchy shades of B&S. I dig the “train track” tracks (I really hope you guys know what I mean by this by now), but the slow stuff’s very capable, too, and very pretty. At their best, reminiscent of a folkier New Pornographers. On very limited occasions, they honest-to-god pull off the Arcade Fire thing.

try: 4, 2, 7, 13
no FCCs

1. ~4 sec to start. simple clear-eyed single-guitar folk. boy & girl singing very politely to each other: “if we’re both not married by 22...” there’s... some whistling involved.
*2. fuzzy shimmy upbeat doo-dah stuff. a little beach boys. okay, a lot. twangy ripchord guitar licks and retro 60s stylings.
3. uke! slow, vocal-centric, single ukulele, sad crooner. some big island cat is playing this drunk in his hammock at like five in the morning. (random warbly backing guitar noise at like 2:15. sort of kills it? eh, whatevs.)
*4. i LOVE this song. post-breakup anthem. upbeat poppy train track folk. “love is always gonna be hard... to give up.” the chorus is sort of uncontrollably grin-inducing. too bad they only sing it twice.
5. murky start. cue it up at :41. slowww brushed-hi hat / piano. mournful lounge. if elton john were singing it, it would be a real song.
6. speedy fingerstyle. very stripped-down for the first minute, then takes off. happy, fast, twangy.
*7. cute/ironic syncopated crush song. watch out, starts with WAILS. hilarious and morbid. “there’s people in the floorboards said the mouse”?! they both kill themselves on... boats? oh, i gave it away! cute as shit, kids.
8. slow waltzy wailer, minimalist muted electric guitar, niiice steam-roll percussion. desperate and depressing. “so forget the politics of living alone.” fade out.
9. beautiful stuff. slow deep arpeggiated picked guitar. very pretty/languorous chick vocals.
10. start at :53 to cut intro. distant dreamscape high piano keys. very... tremolo-y. forceful harmonies. picks up with simple, knock-around drums. actually approaches arcade fire territory, and not poorly. “come on youth, don’t give in! like the very last bowling pin!” (?!?!)
11. cute twinkly waltz. simple kid-song-like arrangement. picks up (w/ stomps and claps and blatty horns?!) in the bridge, then returns to normal.
12. fast strummed acoustic. upbeat, happy pleader. “all our most brilliant friends are doubting themselves!” i can’t pin down what song this reminds me of, but it’s great. song proper ends 6:00 to end. bonus track fades in about 5:50 to end. thin, sparse/pretty noodler. lonngg fade-out.

BONUS DISK
*13. choral a capella down south gospel + handclap extravaganza. gets better when hard-strummed acoustic guitar comes in about one minute in. very summer camp.
14. starts w/ shouted title. happy fast strummed acoustic. dual boy/girl vox.
15. rapid sweet/minor fingerpicked exercise. sort of boring lackluster sky-high vocals.
16. slow, relationship-minded sad ‘un. delicate upfront boy/girl vocals. mostly backdroppy acoustic guitar. a full vamped minute of wailing: “just come on home!”
17-21. live versions of tracks on disk one. mostly “just fine”. please play the album version of track 21 (9), it’s so much better.