Album Review

The Slow Readers Club – The Slow Readers Club

• 17th May 2012

The debut album from Manchester’s The Slow Readers Club is a good collection of tracks that mix electronica with indie in the excellent fusion that gives the band its sound. The songs are big and melodic and the lyrics, many talking of hopelessness and despair, often come with an optimistic twist.

The album was recorded in a Surrey farmhouse and produced by Grammy/ Emmy Award winner Mark ‘Kipper’ Eldridge (Gary Numan & Sting). The Slow Readers Club’s music is based around a mix of electronic melodies and strident guitar chords over a solid bass and drums rhythm section. Lead singer Aaron Starkie has a big, deep voice that adds resonance and authority to his vocals. Everything he sings sound profound simply because of the tone in which he sings it.

The opener One Chance starts with a keyboard backing the vocal before the guitar comes in. It tells a familiar tale of a life dominated by work. It’s a bleak picture that sets the scene for the album well. But there is that one opportunity to get out, to break away, that gives the song its title. One More Minute features a fine bass line from James Ryan in a start-stop track with a big chorus. Frozen begins slowly, telling of being stuck in time, and then once more the theme of wishing to break free comes through.

Block Out The Sun is an epic sounding track, the longest on the album. Again there is a gentle intro before the tempo picks up and Kurtis Starkie’s guitar becomes prominent. All Hope is driven forward by the relentless drumming of Neil Turvin. The lyrics are dark and ominous but the tempo is high and this short track displays a great energy that lifts it.

The heart of the album comes in two already released singles. Sirens suggests that we lose something along with our youth and then spend adulthood on a type of spiritual quest to replace it with something else, perhaps religion or maybe a different sort of lifeline. It’s another energetic and pulsating track. Feet On Fire also has great energy from the off. The lyrics tell of the consequences of a one night stand, when the object of the short term affection becomes a stalker. While there is an upbeat feel musically throughout the fast paced song, the situation gets progressively worse.

Lost Boys starts with the repeated lies “This boy has not future, this city no future.” Yet, despite this stark picture of alienated and despairing youth there is a possible way out if it can be taken. “Wake up, take control” we are told. Seize the moment and find a way out of the rut. This twist from despondency to hope is central to the message of the album.

Learn To Love The System sounds like an ironic ode to submission and acceptance, to living the lifestyle that has been ordained. A repeated keyboard melody punctuates the song, which has an almost Brave New World feel to it.

The closing Stop Wasting My Time starts with an acoustic guitar behind the strong vocals. It’s the best of the slower songs on the album and brings things to an end rather neatly with the closing line, “I draw my last breath. Goodnight.”

There are a couple of tracks that don’t work so well. The slow paced Follow Me Down never really gets going and lacks a spark. She Wears A Frown, the b-side from Feet On Fire, is another slightly slower track. It features a very nice bass line but the high pitched vocal delivery towards the end doesn’t work.

But that is just nit-picking really. This is a good debut album from a band with plenty of musical ability and a lot to say. Their sound, while not unique, is energetic and the lyrics interesting. Much of the feel of the album may be melancholic but the overall message is one of hope. We will be hearing a lot more from The Slow Readers Club.