The rock project from 18-year-old collaborator on Frank Ocean‘s ‘Blonde’, ‘Endless’, and Tyler, The Creator‘s ‘Cherry Bomb’
Listen : “Softer”
Soundcloud / FADER
Photo Credit: Riley Donahue
Yesterday on The FADER, Slow Hollows announced their upcoming full-length album Romantic and shared the first track “Softer“. Romantic is due November 4 on Danger Collective Records.
Romantic is the forthcoming release from Los Angeles based post-pop band Slow Hollows. Written over the span of a few months between 2015 to 2016, Romantic is meant to serve as a response to the previous record Atelophobia. Austin Feinstein, the creative influence behind the project, wrote the songs from the album during his senior year of high school.
The project was original started by Feinstein in 2014 and was previously called Hollows. Their first record, I’m Just As Bad As You Are, was recorded in a minimal space and lead Hollows to receive some success playing along side such as Beach Fossils, Nothing, Twin Peaks, Spencer Moody, Antwon and more. In 2014 the name eventually changed to Slow Hollows after a shift in members and style. The current lineup is Austin Feinstein (vocals/lead guitar), Dylan Thinnes (guitar), Aaron Jassenoff (bass), Reed Kanter (synth/keys), and Jackson Katz (drums).
As time progressed, Slow Hollows grew into the post pop five piece from influences of the likes of Pavement and Radiohead as underlying tones of melancholy and indie rock are complemented by horns and various lush instrumentation. Band members were able to mold a sound that echoed truth of fears, self-doubt, and loneliness that speaks universal lengths to their audiences.
Although the band was developing into a strong, cohesive unit that was able to evoke powerful emotion within adults and teens alike, age was a factor that could be viewed as an obstacle. The boys were forced to deal with the difficulties of navigating their careers at an age where school, the mundane and unvaried pace of the teenage years, and this motive to make art that was honest and meaningful was a pressing matter. It meant they had to experience the conflict that most young people hadn’t faced such as being recognized independently aside from the teenage stereotypes that people tend to think of sad, repetitive, and a sense of self-pity.
Rather, their music came to represent the feelings that all humans feel and this was the mark that proved age did not define art. It wasn’t just some teenage pop group that wanted fame or to play the safe route by choosing predictable chord progressions. The challenge for lead man, Feinstein was to chose the route of writing music that wasn’t “easy” that would to push himself to discover lyrics and music something that captured artistically and creatively what the music would manifest into one day.
Time and experience are not to attribute only to the shift in music style and the creative route they chose to follow and is apparent in their new album, Romantic.
Love wasn’t the bold hand that carried the lyrics, sounds, and tone of the album. Instead, it was the odd stigma that as Feinstein claims defines our society. The band aims to illustrate the sexy and cool atmosphere that clings to the struggling artist and how this is often romanticized. It is thought that people have a tendency to overlook the reality of mental illness, somber, and depression and how musicians in this day in age have met a standard of the ‘tortured artist”. It explores the idea that the inability to handle problems perfectly is worshipped and this knack for instability is skewed by the way it is perceived by audiences and people in general.
Hence, Slow Hollows was able to make something that states just that. The album captures the sadness behind love, being an artist, and is ironically guilty of expressing the hardships and dejection that artists and people face day in and day out. Stating that the band members of this talented group have a deep understanding of emotion is an understatement. The music they create speaks at lengths of the unique interpretation they have of life and they way people feel. why romantic as the title to express their music? Feinstein realized that our society has this romanticized view of mental illness and instability of people who have some merit and are mentally ill. Or have problems that they can’t handle. Our society tends to look at that from romanticized standpoint, Cool to look well-tortured artist is sexy.
Record Release Show
11-04-16 – Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom
Slow Hollows
Romantic
[Danger Collective Records]
Street Date: November 4, 2016
Track List:
1. Spirit Week
2. Again
3. Easy
4. 4141
5. Softer
6. Hospital Flowers
7. Luxury of Lull
8. Last Dance
9. Romantic
SLOW HOLLOWS LINKS: