Welsh quartet Slate share news of their debut EP Deathless, out May 17th on Brace Yourself Records. Following the force of their introductory singles ‘Tabernacl‘ and ‘St Agatha‘, the band return with an invitation to explore their landscape of violent poetry and gothic propulsion to the fullest extent yet. Prepare to be lulled under their spell once more with the slow-burn of forerunning single, ‘Remoter Heaven’, which was debuted by Huw Stephens on BBC 6Music last night and received a follow-up spin on New Music Fix Daily.
Produced by long-time collaborator Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard‘s Tom Rees. It begins in a dream state of hypnotic repetition that mounts in intensity, with vocalist Jack Shephard presiding over it all with his distinctive, poetic drawl. His protagonist is revisiting a memory of the pain inflicted by a thorn as a child; “I was awake with feeling”, he confesses, before the song takes on the momentum that feels like a triumph over the numbness attendant to adulthood.
Of the track, Shephard shares:“I liked the idea of writing a very simple narrative to a big, epic song – something as modest as the story of a child playing in some flowers and then bursting into tears when a thorn pricks their leg. The words are an ode to that sensitivity we embrace when we are young. Then, when we become adults, we insist on subjugating all of that wonderful, absurd rage.”
Their debut EP, Deathless, is their most ambitious act of storytelling so far. Recorded in one take, the narrative of its six tracks takes place within a single room – or, perhaps, one mind. It begins with what the band feel is some of the darkest material they will ever write, to reaching, in its second half, a place of transformation and epiphany. On the EP’s vinyl edition, the lyrics are written out like a diary entry, each one penned in another member’s hand.
1. Remoter Heaven
2. The Heir
3. Sun Violence
4. Deathless
5. Shade In Me
6. Hailstone
Pre-order Deathless here: https://lnk.to/Slate-Deathless
Tour dates:
Mar 23rd | Bristol, UK – Ritual Union
Mar 30th | Liverpool, UK – FestEVOL
Apr 3rd | Cardiff, UK – Clwb Ifor Bach*
May 9th-11th | Wrexham, UK – Focus Wales
May 16th-18th | Brighton, UK – The Great Escape
May 18th | Sheffield, UK – Get Together
May 31st | Cardiff, UK – Clwb Ifor Bach
June 5th – London, UK – The Windmill
Aug 15-18th | Brecon, UK – Green Man Festival
* = w/ Big Special
Photo credit – Sam Stevens