Slow Crush debut a hypnotizing new single “Bloodmoon”, just ahead of the release of their full-length album Thirst, due August 29 via Pure Noise Records. Of the track the band reveal, “In the absence of light only the darkness remains. In this dark void we feel lost without purpose or spark while time slips through our fingers like sand. ‘Bloodmoon’ is about the struggles and pain of a passionate and purposeful life but a life worth living. A life without is dark. In this fulfilling life we can completely lose ourselves and forget about the crunch of time.”
On Thirst, Slow Crush’s dynamic textures, propulsive rhythms and gauzy riffs glow bright as ever, but this time with more grit. The past few years off the road have given the four-piece space to breathe and create since the release of their two critically acclaimed albums, Aurora (2018) and Hush (2021), which have sold over several tens of thousands physical copies, cementing them on the forefront of rock/shoegaze. When the time came to head into the studio, vocalist / bassist Isa Holliday, drummer Frederik Meeuwis, guitarists Jelle Ronsmans and Nic Placlé decamped to The Ranch in Southampton, U.K., to work with producer Lewis Johns with no expectations in mind, aside from a metamorphosis.
Thirst’s ten tracks are a thematic cascade of noise that echoes the end and bursts into new life. The riffs are heavier, the vocals are dreamier and more emotional than ever. Isa broke new ground in her vulnerability when while in the recording booth. There were several songs she couldn’t record without dissolving into tears – her deepest excavation of feelings yet.
Thirst’s overarching theme is what Isa describes as “the romance of being with a loved one”. Although being away from someone close for long periods might strain that bond at times, the return can feel glorious, the connection sparkling new again for a while. Slow Crush set out to capture the feeling of being tethered yet feeling weightless, absorbed in the surreal beauty of the quiet moments with someone.
