The Slow Readers Club release “91 Days in Isolation”
Manchester’s The Slow Readers Club have announced their fifth studio album, 91 Days in Isolation, which is out on October 23rd self-released via their own label, SRC Records.
91 Days in Isolation swiftly follows their Top 10 album, “The Joy Of The Return”, released in March 2020, which we reviewed back in April giving it an impressive 5/5. You can check out the review here.
Written during the UK lockdown, the album was created with the band all working remotely from home. Speaking of the writing process for the album, lead singer Aaron Starkie said:
“This collection of songs was written remotely during the UK Covid 19 lockdown. With each band member sharing ideas over the internet, the songs were pieced together at home. When the lockdown lifted we took the songs to Edwin Street Recording Studios in Bury and recorded this album with our producer Phil Bulleyment. We are proud to present 91 Days in Isolation”.
Throughout the entirety of the lockdown, The Slow Readers Club consistently found creative ways of staying connected to their fans. These included exclusive lockdown videos including videos of fan-selected cover songs, ‘watch together’ sessions of previous shows, fan listening parties of their previous albums and an unforgettable acoustic session surrounded by 21,000 vacant seats in a hauntingly desolate Manchester Arena for the venue’s 25th anniversary celebrations.
The new record also sees the band become the first to announce a new album during a ticketed live-streamed concert. Performing live from The Met in Bury last week, the four-piece played a blistering set containing exclusive performances of some of the new songs from the upcoming album.
It’s not that long since we reviewed the last full length album from The Slow Readers Club. “The Joy of the Return” is a stunning album and worthy of a 5/5 score, and one that I’m still listening to now on a regular basis. This new album has been created and shared remotely, only coming together during the pandemic once restrictions have eased for the recording stage. It’s interesting to note, the influence the pandemic has had, with tracks named Barricades, Lost Summer, and the Orwellian classic name Two Minutes Hate. After our experience with the last album I was really looking forward to this one, but with a touch of wonder, or doubt in my mind…. After such a great album, would it live up to expectations ! On the first listen, I wasn’t sure. There is much of the classic and familiar Slow Readers Club sound here, but they also have taken the lockdown situation to experiment a little with new sounds and influences.
The album kicks off with Barricades with a delightful chorus with a guitar line that almost ‘rings’ at you providing a great juxtaposition to the more angular and insistent beat and fuzzy tone through the verses. It certainly would not have been out of place on “The Joy of the Return”. This leads us on to something new in Everything I Own with an introduction full of eastern promise, a story of lost love with lines such as ‘I gave you the best of me, everything I own…. keep on digging a hole, singing a sad song’. Wonderful fluid guitars which continue the Middle Eastern feel throughout complimenting Aaron Starkie’s vocals perfectly.
Next up we have the heavy groove of Yet Again which has a fantastic repetitive lyrical styling backed by a thumping almost march like tone. The refrain is almost hypnotic…. Great stuff. Lost Summer is something different again and one of the new styles on display, with a wonderful echoey guitar effect running through it, creating a dream-like feel and a real sense of space and depth. Probably my favourite song on the album. Next up we have The Greatest Escape. A great song that will work really well live, with a fantastic almost metronomic pounding beat running through it. One that will definitely get folk jumping around live !
When Wanted Much More started up I thought for the first few bars I’d put on a track by IST IST by mistake, with it’s Joy Division like introduction, which morphed then into a kind of synth pop vibe. Loved it ! but it then explodes into life with a powerful chorus. The singing in the chorus really shows off Aaron’s range well and I couldn’t help feeling this was a track that could see The Slow Readers Club engage a whole new audience.
As we reach the end of the album we have the Orwellian titled Two Minutes Hate. In 1984, the Two Minute Hate, is the daily gathering of party members are wound into a state of frenzy by news reports and then they release this rage by screaming at images of enemy soldiers on the screen. Total devotion to the state. This feel and theme fits perfectly with the classic Slow Readers Club feel, with it’s emphatic, pounding rhythmic sounds and vocal ‘rage’ showing through in the chorus. With the refrain “I start to crave chaos, unleash this rage in us” it’s a reminder of the unusual….. well frankly extraordinary times we’re living through and is a commentary on the rage on social media sites and whether as individuals we should engage in it as an outlet.
Finally we come to the end, and the last track Like I Wanted To and another diversion from the usual material from the band. So so very different from everything that’s gone before, a beautiful, emotional piano piece, building slowly with the introduction of strings. But this is the calm before the storm as it explodes into life at the 2:22 mark, with a wall of powerful guitar, and striking heavy drums and a wonderful emotion laden vocal performance, bringing not just the song, but the whole album to a powerful conclusion, before slowly fading away with simple strings.
I said at the start I was a little anxious about doing this review. Would it live up to the previous album, how would the lockdown have impacted on their writing. I shouldn’t have worried, as what we have here is an album that continues the excellent standards of “The Joy of the Return” but adds to it, with some new and creative stylings and I have no hesitation in awarding it a score of 9.5
