Forming out of a tapestry of hometown friendships and college connections, Slow Fiction emerged into a music scene fragmented by lockdowns. They grew closer as restrictions dropped away and audiences grew, using the shifts to experiment with their material and reach more expansive and formidable levels. The final product is a landmine of sound, inspired by the raw, sweeping fuzz of the likes of Sonic Youth and The Jesus and Mary Chain. Familiar elements of noughties era guitar shine through, confronted with cutting contemporary angst to create a nostalgic yet intoxicating sound. As the band’s confidence grew through their live shows they were liberated, taking all they had learnt in order to begin working on “a lot more cohesive and bigger sounding” project.
While their early months were spent bouncing between a variety of rehearsal and practise spaces across New York, bassist Ryan Duffin recalls “it never really felt like home for us.” Naturally, the band decided that the only reasonable solution was to move in together, forever blurring the boundaries between ‘normal’ life and artistry, and enabling the friends to fall into an endless process of experimentation and creation. “There’s always someone playing an instrument in the house” explains vocalist Julia Vassallo, meaning even when the band aren’t “actively writing”, they are just a spark away from a period of spontaneous creation.
The result of this shift from a rootless creative environment to an incredibly intimate, shared space is Slow Fiction’s ‘Crush EP’, an immersive and transformative force. Opening with the frantic energy of ‘Monday’, a track described by the band as “the moment just before the storm hits” and sprawling continually outwards from there. The EP proceeds to swerve through a dizzying array of experiences, from the discord of dreams and reality on ‘Apollo’ to the delusion of ‘a blinding crush and the mistakes that are made in pursuit of it’ as explored on the aching ‘There Were Stars In Your Eyes’
It is with ‘January’, a meditative rumination of all that comes before, that the EP’s cycle is revealed. Described by the band as “the reckoning”, the track explores “knowing that you just experienced something difficult, and that you aren’t out of the woods quite yet, but you can be eventually.” The whirlwind of emotions displayed across the track tie together the tales and emotions of the EP, all while vocalist Julia confronts “accepting that you’ve been the antagonist in your life at certain points.”
Slow Fiction are quickly beginning to establish themselves as one of the most riveting and engaging live bands emerging from the bubbling scene of New York right now. This EP goes further to prove their potential, borrowing notes of nostalgia and pairing it with hard hitting truths and indisputable emotional weight. The masterful intertwining of personal anguish with the array of musical inspirations and fuzzy, intoxicating tones makes Slow Fiction one of the most exciting acts emerging right now, and this EP is just the beginning.
