merry christmas! from the owl and slow club 24.12.
are you feeling christmassy yet? you bloody well should be! i am. and it’s just re-snowed in leeds. so the slushy ice is no more and we’ve re-got a nice chunk of soft white fluffyness. yes! charles and rebecca from the lovely slow club have a little present for you, too..
last year, slow club released a christmas single that proved one of their and their fans’ favourites over the year, being the band’s encore at gigs up and down the country. this year they keep their (by-accident) christmas tradition going with their new ep, christmas, thanks for nothing, released last week on moshi moshi records.
the 5-tracker features covers of some of our favourite christmas songs, with charles claiming making the ep “was a good excuse for us to spend time in the studio without the pressure of a full album or even our own songs on our heads” and that the band “used a few different instruments and experimented with more electronic sounds to see how much [they] could get away with.”
indeed, the experimental change in sound has worked out wonderfully and the ep features the band’s first bass line (’christmas, thanks for nothing’), as well as the first time cymbals have been used on a slow club recording (’christmas (baby please come home’)). if it’s a test, it’s a triumph, and sure to please any fan of the band. a fun and festive number, with the band’s unique takes on the songs they cover, it’s an ep for life and not just for christmas… (sorry..)
feeling merry, the band are giving away one of the tracks on the ep for free! their rendition of christmas (baby please come home) is jubilant and joyful. on darlene love’s 1963 original, rebecca says it’s her “favourite christmas song”, going on to say it “was also really fun for me to really try and sing and give up drum duties”. and it’s oh so lovely, we do love it when you belt it out miss taylor. the band also cite phil spector as an influence in terms of the angle on production they took. have a listen, download the mp3 under the festive and completely un-photoshopped photograph of the band below..
slow club - christmas (baby please come home) (click to download mp3)
and, as a bonus, download a stripped-back, acoustic version of last year’s christmas single, ‘christmas tv’, that thegoldenowl.co.uk recorded with the band when they popped round to visit us in leeds last may.
christmas tv encore in the rain outside for fans who couldn’t get in, glastonbury ‘09
slow club - christmas tv (click to download mp3)
released monday 14th, slow club’s christmas, thanks for nothing ep is available now via moshi moshi records. get it!
have a very merry christmas :) x