The Slow Readers Club - The Joy of Return
The Slow Readers Club are back with their fourth album, The Joy Of The Return, which was released on 20 March 2020.
The Manchester quartet are Aaron Starkie (vocals/keys), Kurtis Starkie (vocals/guitar), James Ryan (bass) and David Whitworth (drums).
The album was recorded at Parr Street Studios in Liverpool and produced by long-standing collaborator Phil Bulleyment and was released on the Modern Sky label.
In advance of their new album release the band have shared the singles, All I Hear, Jericho and Killing Me.
The opening track All I Hear is an uplifting track to kick off the album, we are met with slick guitar riffs and punchy drums, and a chantable chorus “been trying to catch a wave for so long, all I hear. been trying to catch a wave for so long, all I hear”.
Something Missing is the next track and is very catchy and upbeat clearly seeing the benefit of Bulleyment’s production and him knowing how to get the best from the band.
Their trademark darker indie pop is throughout Problem Child and allows Starkie to showcase his haunting vocal. Jericho has an infectious guitar riff and sharp drums and the track has a more vibrant danceable beat to it.
No Surprise is a brooding track, with emotive lyrics “I scaled the highest peak, the scene defies belief, looked out on all the horrors of humanity…. all man conspired to cultivate a tragedy” giving Starkie’s vocal a more melancholy feel. Paris is the polar opposite of its preceding track as this is a punchy dreamy pop tune with a very catchy and repeatable chorus “take me back, take me back to Paris, to the breaking of the dawn”.
Killing Me another of the singles from the album and features a compelling guitar riff with another subdued darker vocal.
The next track All the Idols is a gentler track, which has a gradual build up to a crescendo before it fades away again. We then have Every Word which has an echoey feel to the rhythm but is punctuated by sharp keys again accompanied by a brooding lyric.
Zero Hour has a stripped back beginning before the drum progression kicks in, this is another lighter poppier tune.
The final track is The Wait and is the perfect way to end the album with its atmospheric synths and guitar riffs and brooding bass giving it a foot stomping finale and not for the first time in the album sounding very much like The Editors.
The album seems to have a prescriptive feel about the length of the songs all coming in at around the same time, this may have been due to the fact that the writing was done whilst on tour and was done between sets whilst in the tour van or during sound tests so some tunes do feel a bit truncated.
But overall it’s a very enjoyable album and is an indication of the bands lofty ambitions of playing anthemic songs in larger venues, and after the success of their previous tour this album should see them achieve that when the circumstances allow it to be taken around the country.
Track List
All I Hear
Something Missing
Problem Child
Jericho
No Surprise
Paris
Killing Me
All the Idols
Every Word
Zero Hour
The Wait
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Give the album a listen, it’s available on Spotify and all the usual streams:
https://open.spotify.com/album/3AghJLF4yVqdau5NpQYQYg?si=PazEAQ-XRBuiA2ZwPwDd4A