Brighton quartet Slung have released a final taster of what’s to come with their accomplished debut album ‘In Ways’, out this Friday via Fat Dracula. ‘Limassol’ tells the tale of a tragic and existential love story centered around the holiday resort in Cyprus in the 90’s. It’s exemplary of vocalist Katie Oldham’s ability to weave a narrative full of poeticism and emotion. She says: “The song and video tell the story of a sickly man, who, whilst reflecting back on his life as he draws close to the end, decides to take a trip back one last time to a holiday resort where he worked one summer when he was young and in love. There he met a girlfriend who he partied with and had a summer of love, until the end of the season where he bailed out and left her there because he didn’t want to be the one abandoned. He’s lived with that regret ever since, never knowing what happened to his love.
In his final days he decides to make one last trip back there to try and relive the memories. But when he returns, the place is entirely different, and he struggles to hold on to those precious memories that are slipping even further away: ‘All of the rest that’s left in the dust, collects on my hands, what became of us? A face in my head that I don’t recall, do you know what it means? Did it matter at all?’”
Riff-laced Brighton outfit Slung have released a further preview of their impending debut album ‘In Ways’, which is due for release 2nd May via Fat Dracula. is out today with its ominous, undulating bassline from Vlad Matveikov giving way to an immensely evocative vocal from Katie Oldham. The strings in this song were composed and performed by an amazing Ukrainian group called Kaska Studio String Section.
Katie says: “This song was inspired by strippers, escorts and sex workers and the power dynamics that come with that profession. It’s told from the perspective of a woman weaponizing the male gaze that she must endure regardless, and advising others to use it for their own advantage.”
With shades of metal, grunge and an all-round plethora of alternative influences, ‘In Ways’ has been breathed into life by Slung through the supreme ability of its members and their vision. The band’s line-up is completed by the accomplished Ali Johnson on guitar and powerhouse rhythm-master Ravi Martin on drums). Katie’s storytelling and the compelling way she brings together personal, lived experience with more abstract, conceptual ideas and characters, comes to the fore via a collaborative combustion of its members’ experiences, circumstances and accomplished musicianship.
Slung’s sonic universe is a veritable musical supernova, with the band’s members referencing influences as far-reaching as Deftones and Baroness, Wednesday and MJ Lenderman, Queens of the Stone Age and even Chappell Roan and Fleetwood Mac.
You can get a further taste of this with previously-released album cuts – the power-dynamic-examining ‘Class A Cherry’, the playful ‘Thinking About It’, the psych-infused ‘Collider’ and the trauma-fueled, ribcage-rattling ‘Laughter.
SLUNG ON TOUR:
Tickets available here
02 May Winchester – The Railway Inn
03 May Brighton – Green Door Store
04 May Cheltenham – Frog & Fiddle
05 May Reading – Purple Turtle
09 May Northampton – The Garibaldi
15 May Guildford – The Boileroom
16 May Nottingham – JT Soar
17 May Norwich – Voodoo Daddy’s
23 May Bristol – Exchange (basement)
24 May Cardiff – Paradise Garden
29 May Tunbridge Wells – Forum (basement)
30 May Leeds – Wharf Chambers
31 May London – The Victoria
06 June Alton – The Lounge Bar
27 August Newport – Le Pub
28 August Birmingham – The Rainbow
30 August Burn It Down Festival, Torquay
SLUNG ARE:
Katie Oldham – vocals
Ali Johnson – guitar
Ravi Martin – drums
Vlad Matveikov – bass
CONNECT WITH SLUNG:
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