The Slow Readers Club
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The Slow Readers Club

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"The Slow Readers Club: The Slow Readers Club"

I am initially drawn to The Slow Readers Club by their name; I listened to a few tracks online and downloaded their self-titled album. These boys from Manchester deliver an unexpected and intense journey from the very first note.

One Chance, the opening track has the scent of desperation, capturing your attention from the off. It starts with a gentle electro style entrance, moving into deliciously thrashing guitars, underpinned by purposeful rhythms. Kurtis Starkey has a familiar warm tone, but unique in his delivery. His vocals drift into a haunting melody and echo round my head long after the song has finished.

Track after track, offering a painful and reflective indictment of our current society. The overall sound is tainted with a hint of Manchester indie scene, but channelling a different and more exciting vibe. It breeds a kind of happy misery, a theme that reverberates throughout the album. It carries you on a journey you tread every day, a no hold's barred walk through the difficulties in today's culture. Block Out The Sun, due to be the next single release, worthy of every one of the 5 minutes. It is (for me) the best song from the album, lyrically eloquent with an impassioned angst.

All Hope, starts with the promise of an uplifting more positive melody, but descends into the most beautifully tragic journey through modern life, full of torment and an understanding of pain, loss and love-lessness. I am transfixed, unable to skip a track. Sirens delving deeper into your psyche, taunting us with lines like ...'I've had enough someday it's got to stop!'

Learn to Love the System is another favourite. It suggests someone embroiled and integrated into a society, but desperate to break free from the daily constraints and required conformities. It touches a chord and articulates the kind of prose I cannot, despite my words.

I have to admit having this on loop for at least the first three full length plays. From the start to the end, I wallow in this darkly painted picture unable to skip any one of the 12 tracks. Brilliant penmanship and pure inspiration...the best £8 I have spent this year. Buy It!! - Leedsmusicscene.net


"ALBUM OF THE MONTH 5/5"

A couple of years back Slow Readers Club released the “Lost Boys EP” – comparing that now to their new, eponymous album, it seems as though that was a sketchbook of great things to come. And great things indeed do pour out of this carefully considered collection of Slow Readers tunes. This is a band who have blurred the edges between genres, merged the sounds of various decades from the 80’s through to now and who have captured the essence of urban life in an armful of essential, unforgettable musical episodes. Even the opener “Once Chance” pulls it’s punches, instead drenching the listener in slowly simmering atmospherics, because the thumping “One More Minute” is just around the corner. Slow Readers Club can also achieve the sun kissing heights of Mancunian musical landmarks such as Doves or The Chameleons, with relative ease and all delivered straight up from the underground – “Sirens” does all of this with a dance ethic, proving that you can do a bit of emotional flag waving with melodies that effortlessly billow across the city’s roof tops. “Feet On Fire” continues this manifesto with equal aplomb whilst the symphonic electronica of “Follow Me Down” is a searching 21st century ballad. The band explore more synth led, aesthetically atmospheric moments on “She Wears A Frown” deciding also to go out on the emotional swing of “Stop Wasting My Time”. It’s easy to dwell on The Slow Readers Club’s more obvious foot stompers, but an album’s worth of material allows them to lay out a wider strategy, bolstered by superb production values. It’s pretty incredible that this is pretty much a white label, exceeding as it does many of today's more formal record releases...for people in love with this city (or any other for that matter), this collection provides a heartfelt yet genuinely energetic soundtrack…


MMMMM - Manchestermusic.co.uk


"Introducing The Slow Readers Club"

All I ever do is listen to music and eat biscuits, but I almost missed The Slow Readers Club completely. Having heard them, I just don't know how that is possible and I'm over the moon that I've put it right now.

The Slow Readers Club are a Manchester based Indie / Electro band who’s output, according to their biog 'ranges from insanely catchy upbeat indie to angry, introspective downbeat ballads. Their music has drawn comparisons with Interpol, The Killers and Arcade Fire.'


I could list a whole load more comparissons that crept into my head as I listened to the album the first few times, but I won't because in my mind they have already moved in to the category - Sound's like The Slow Readers Club.

Their debut single Sirens was released in October of last year and was pretty well received and the album followed in December. A second single Feet On Fire is due and hopefully will do as well in elevating the band's profile, having already being featured on a Soccer AM VT.

I'm really looking forward to hearing them play live when they're up this way but for the moment they only have a few dates sheduled in the Manchester area. If you're down there, check 'em out.

I really can't recommend The Slow Readers Club highly enough. You should take time out to have a listen and show them some support and spread the word. - Indie Pen Dude


"The Slow Readers Club, 'Feet on Fire'"

Remember that Joy Division Playmobil music video that blew up the blogosphere a few months ago? Well, D.O. Rother, the German director behind the awesome 'Transmission' video, has done the same thing for another Manchester group, the Slow Readers Club. " - Artist Direct


"Introducing: The Slow Readers Club"

“The Slow Readers Club” are an alternative post punk-electronica band from Manchester, whose talent benchmarks the new wave of guitar fused electronica bands recently hitting the headlines. Without the cliched, gloomy disposition normally associated with this genre, “The Slow Readers Club” bustles and energises through a tough veneer. Despite their accomplished musicianship, there is something really self-effacing about “The Slow Readers Club”, a sort of cool swagger which moves calmly amongst their bombastic backdrop.

“Siren” is a song which flirts with a Brit-pop bounce, whilst blast-capping with the dynamite duo of Post-punk electronica. It’s a song whose circuit of synths mutates whirls and rallies around the crunchy guitars and pulsating bass. Lyrically compact and quietly despairing, “Siren” is a catchy song, whose dead-pan vocals nestle amongst the throbbing beats and spinning overtures. In a nutshell “Siren” is like a tribal Bravery song meeting the Stone Roses on a dark night…

“Feet on Fire” is a song whose chimera of opening synths reverberates like a digital alarm clock, beeping and snoozing amongst its raucous energy. Loaded with lascivious regret, “Feet on Fire”, is an adrenaline pumping wake-up call, whose gritty lyrics are inflamed by the formidable soundscape. It’s a song whose jagged guitars penetrate through the fluttering synths and sonic beats. Despite the iron guitar-laden armour, “Feet on Fire” wraps itself with a veil of choir-esque interludes which semi-extinguishes the internal hellfire. - The Manc Review


"Slow rise to debut album"

You often hear about bands going to quite extraordinary lengths in order to precipitate some new change in music direction. They might relocate to Berlin and immerse themselves in hedonistic excess for a few months (like every art-rock band ever); they might listen exhaustively to another genre of music in hope of inheriting some new found spirit of adventure (Radiohead and the entire Warp Records back catalogue springs to mind); or, perhaps, they might just employ the services of rockprofessor Brian Eno so he can do all the innovation searching for them (hello, erm, Coldplay).

In the case of new Manchester band The Slow Readers Club, however, any attempts to undergo a musical sea-change weren’t quite so extreme.

Just over a year ago, the Manchester indie four-piece – then attempting to draw a line between their previous band and their exciting new project – decided that just one small step was required to kick-start the musical revolution they all desired: that was to, quite simply, cheer up.

“Well, that was the original plan,” sighs Aaron Starkie, the singer/lyricist of The Slow Readers Club, a man whose permanently furrowed brow suggests he’s more of a glass half-empty sort of chap.

“When we first started this band, we thought it would be a good idea to write a few lighter songs; chuck in a few major chords in there. But it didn’t really work out in the end – we binned those songs ’cos it just wasn’t us.

“At the end of the day, some bands are meant to wallow in melancholy, and others are meant to write party music. We know where we belong.”

Indeed. Just like a leopard can’t change its spots, this group of Wythenshawe-based late 20-somethings were also never going to dramatically alter their downbeat musical DNA – as it turns out, though, that’s undeniably a good thing.

Formed from the ashes of late-noughties Manc rockers Omerta, the newly reconstructed Slow Readers Club – Aaron Starkie on vocals, his brother Kurtis onguitars, James Ryan on bass and Neil Turvin on drums – are a textbook lesson in following a musical urge through to its natural and beautiful conclusion.

Where Omerta’s brand of slow-burning melancholy received modest acclaim over a string of low-key, self-funded EPs, The Slow Readers Club appear much more of an expansive proposition; a band who take their inherent downbeatdispositions and darkside melodies and explore them intensively over the course of a full-length album.

That eponymous debut album, released this coming Monday, firmly vindicates the band’s decision to not radically overhaul their musical DNA.
Awash with Doves-ish sweeping melancholy with splashes of The Chameleons and Ian Brown’s solo work, the album’s 12 tracks evoke the palpable sense of a band being suffocated by their surroundings, the bittersweet soundtrack of young men waiting for life to start broadcasting in technicolour.

“As a songwriter, I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of how people are supposedly on this pre-ordained path in life,” Starkie muses. “Coming from Wythenshawe, we were always made aware of our expectation levels being really low from an early age.

“Aside from going on The X Factor or something like that, the very idea of attempting to carve out a music career is seen as a waste of time. People are pigeonholed and put in their place because of their social class – and that’s something that’s always stuck in my head as a songwriter.”

Starkie looks back with fondness on his early upbringing, he and his younger brother enjoying the perks of their father’s sideline as a local DJ.

He recalls: “Our dad had stacks of old vinyl ’cos he’d DJ around local pubs and clubs. The music we had on in the house was all the classics – Elvis, Beatles, Motown. That was like our musical education.”

More education arrived in the form of The Smiths and Joy Division during his teens (“Ian Curtis has always been the Manchester frontman who stood out for me. I’ve also got that deep vocal thin - Manchester Evening News


"THE SLOW READERS CLUB * joint album of the month *"

A couple of years back Slow Readers Club released the “Lost Boys EP” – comparing that now to their new, eponymous album, it seems as though that was a sketchbook of great things to come. And great things indeed do pour out of this carefully considered collection of Slow Readers tunes. This is a band who have blurred the edges between genres, merged the sounds of various decades from the 80’s through to now and who have captured the essence of urban life in an armful of essential, unforgettable musical episodes. Even the opener “Once Chance” pulls it’s punches, instead drenching the listener in slowly simmering atmospherics, because the thumping “One More Minute” is just around the corner. Slow Readers Club can also achieve the sun kissing heights of Mancunian musical landmarks such as Doves or The Chameleons, with relative ease and all delivered straight up from the underground – “Sirens” does all of this with a dance ethic, proving that you can do a bit of emotional flag waving with melodies that effortlessly billow across the city’s roof tops. “Feet On Fire” continues this manifesto with equal aplomb whilst the symphonic electronica of “Follow Me Down” is a searching 21st century ballad. The band explore more synth led, aesthetically atmospheric moments on “She Wears A Frown” deciding also to go out on the emotional swing of “Stop Wasting My Time”. It’s easy to dwell on The Slow Readers Club’s more obvious foot stompers, but an album’s worth of material allows them to lay out a wider strategy, bolstered by superb production values. It’s pretty incredible that this is pretty much a white label, exceeding as it does many of today's more formal record releases...for people in love with this city (or any other for that matter), this collection provides a heartfelt yet genuinely energetic soundtrack…


MMMMM - Music Dash


"Album Review: The Slow Readers Club – The Slow Readers Club"

The debut, self titled album from The Slow Readers Club harnesses their Indie/Electro sound and manages at times to fill the picture full of colour and energy and simultaneously feel broody, downbeat and thoughtful.

Opener “One Chance” shows that off perfectly with twinkling background noises offsetting the slow, grim vocal of “Whilst the creeping cancer’s chewing at your bones” and then the trot becomes a canter as it turns into a fast paced, pop laden half chanted, half pleaded chorus “Give me one last chance.”

Upbeat, excitable and catchy “One More Minute” is anchored by mainstream, pop heavy guitar riffs that sound like they are straight from a Pigeon Detectives album. Sing-along is one way of describing it, anthemic is another.

The whole thing is a play with two very different acts interspersed in one. Dark lyrics and decadence splashed together with electric colour, furiously hyper guitar riffs and a poppy, carefree charm.

“All Hope” tells an unknown soul that “My favourite dreams are the ones where you are suffering.” yet the deep resentment there is partnered perfectly with a chime, a twinkle and a bicycle bell like twinkle.

Similar too on “Feet on Fire” which tells the story of a throw away one night lover who “Hunts me down, hunts me down, hunts me down for the rest of my life.”

The thump, thump drum beat turns into almost a dance tune, giving it a get up and go it carries perfectly.

“Lost Boys” and “Learn to Love the System” are rails against the way the world goes, the world order and the broken dreams and promises we all encounter.

The rushing falsetto and space age effect give “She wears a Frown” a Muse like feel and closer “You’re Wasting my Time” starts off as a low key acoustic before exploding into life with the chaotic strings and the vocals which are burrowing deeper, creating a lasting impression.

The people who pick the music for the end of dramas will be taking note of “She Wears a Frown.”

Broken dreams, regrets and bitterness litter this debut but rather than festering they are mixed together with chimes, strings, twinkles and riffs which create an accomplished, intriguing debut album which at times comes across as the lovechild of Snow Patrol and Arcade Fire, with Muse and Embrace as the godparents.

Impressive stuff.

Below is the video for the single and album track “Feet on Fire.” - Red Rose Music


"The Slow Readers Club, 'Feet on Fire': Band Morphs Into Playmobil Figures -- Video"

Remember that Joy Division Playmobil music video that blew up the blogosphere a few months ago? Well, D.O. Rother, the German director behind the awesome 'Transmission' video, has done the same thing for another Manchester group, the Slow Readers Club.

"Over half a million people saw my Joy Division video and I got a great reaction, so it was great to work with a current band in the same way," says stop frame animation wizard D.O.

Check out the clip below as Playmobil people perform 'Feet on Fire,' the new single from the Slow Readers Club, which drops on April 2. - Spinner.com


Discography

Their critically acclaimed debut single 'Sirens' from their debut self-titled album was played on BBC Introducing, NME, Q Radio and NME TV.

Their youtube channel has seen 30,000 views to date helped in no small part by the video for their single ‘Block out the Sun’ featuring on Coldplay's website.

The album was released on May 21st 2012 and the full track listing is as follows:

Track Listing:
1. Once Chance
2. One More Minute
3. Frozen
4. Block Out The Sun
5. All Hope, All Faith
6. Sirens
7. Feet On Fire
8. Follow Me Down
9. Lost Boys
10. Learn To Love The System
11. She Wears A Frown
12. Stop Wasting My Time

Photos

Bio

The Slow Readers Club are a Manchester based Indie / Electro band who’s output ranges from insanely catchy upbeat indie to angry, introspective downbeat ballads. Influences include other Manchester Music alumni, The Stone Roses, New Order, Doves and Hot Vestry.

The band includes three former members of Omerta who
released three critically acclaimed and collectable singles and whose XFM live session earned them a top five place in the sessions of the year.

The Slow Readers Club have been building a loyal local following from appearances at The Deaf Institute, Night and Day and Friends of Mine festival amongst others. They have also had great support from DJ’s at Manchester's biggest Indie night clubs 5th Avenue and 42 Street.