SLOW PULP - YARD
Stripped back and returning to form, the Chicago based via Wisconsin quartet Slow Pulp has come in strong with their latest release, Yard.
Recorded in a rural farm in Wisconsin, the band explore many themes of self-reflection, doubt and hit really close to home with their background and experiences. After dropping teasers with songs like ‘Slugs’, ‘Cramps’, ‘Doubt’ and ‘Broadview’, the hype behind this album was at an all time high for me.
These teasers perfectly encapsulate the themes of the album and made me excited to see the general direction of the album. There were a lot of elements that the band draws from on each teaser that feels like a more refined follow up to their first album Moveys as well as pursuing a more dialed in sound.
Right off the bat, openers ‘Gone 2’ & ‘Doubt’ while juxtaposed in sound, tackle similar themes that are explored in the rest of the album. While ‘Gone 2’ is a somber thought of not being good enough, ‘Doubt’ is a bratty track begging for acceptance of the other despite their insecurities. Musically it’s in ‘Doubt’ where I instantly felt hooked, the track feels plucked off of an early 00’s teen movie, which in many spheres may sound skeptical but it’s such a high in the album.
The track follows a more “bubblegrunge” sound that’s proliferated throughout the scene, and feels like it’s a sound that Slow Pulp feel comfortable with and very well excel in. This sound also finds itself in the next track, ‘Cramps’, which stuck with me when it was first released as a single. The track brings an attitude with it with a chorus of “I'll take anything/That you wanna give/But I want everything” that give off such a gimme gimme attitude, reminiscent of some early Best Coast and Dum Dum Girls from the early 2010s. There’s also some noisy influence that really drive home the track for me and make it one of the more exciting points of the album.
Though some of my personal strong points in the album were on the noisier and brash side, there are plenty of other tracks where the band slows it down and strips to basics that really stand out. In the title track ‘Yard’, Slow Pulp go for a piano centered approach that feels almost like a self-reflective soliloquy on a naive teen experience. With lyrics that hit like “They put the house for sale sign up/Did you know that I cared that much/Tell my sister that she’s good enough/For me” and the outro of “I’m selfish/I’ve been selfish.” These paint such a vivid picture of remorse and sensitivity in singer and guitarist Emily Massey that lyrically feels like one of the more creative and insightful moments of the album.
Following a similar pattern in songwriting, ‘Broadview’ sounds like a track that’s right out of Faye Webster’s discography. The song is americana influenced with a twangy banjo and harmonica solo that really help set the tone of the track. Coupled with the ending track ‘Fishes’ a lot of the emphasis remains on the stripped back instrumentation and Massey’s vocals and songwriting. Both of these tracks wrap up the album thematically on self-belief and self-reliance, where even in self-doubt Massey explores the idea that you are enough and you are the prize even in the worst of it all.
With Yard, Slow Pulp has dropped one of my top albums of the year, and lyrically one of the best I’ve heard in a minute. There’s a way the group just has in making their music seamlessly resonate the message they are getting across. Though in many regards I wish they would go for their more raw sound like they do in ‘Cramps’ and ‘Worm’, the band just feels extremely natural and at their best in their stripped back iterations. The slow and dreariness in these tracks really make the album feel so introspective and put Slow Pulp in a unique lane where they can traverse through an aggressive and noisy sound to a somber and reflective state in back to back tracks.
Alfredo Luna
★★★★☆