Today, Welsh quartet Slate release their debut EP, Deathless, on Brace Yourself Records, alongside sharing a new single ‘Sun Violence‘. The band – currently in Brighton for The Great Escape festival where they spoke to Huw Stephens on BBC 6 Music live to air yesterday [link perhaps?] – here present six stunning songs that exemplify why they’ve become a much talked-about staple of the UK live circuit over the past year.
New single ‘Sun Violence’ is but one such gem. It finds Slate taking their sound to its furthest extremities. Together, they reimagine the gothic foundations of new-wave, and take on the violence of natural forces. The drums rain up you like hail and the guitar whips up a cyclone of chaos; frontman Jack Shephard’s vocals are in the eye of the storm, teetering on the brink of mania. Though the EP’s lyrics are written largely by Shephard, ‘Sun Violence’ was an effort of two: himself and guitarist Elis Penri, who adds another poetic dimension to the track.
Of the track, Jack explains: “‘Sun Violence’ is one of our most instinctive songs. Although we wrote it and have played it many times, it still feels entirely peculiar to us. It feels like it defies conventional structure and instead, lets raw emotion steer the song until its end. It is hard now to place ourselves in the mindset we must have been when we wrote it. We must have been pretty volatile. It has meant that playing and hearing the song since then, has become fascinating, exciting and somewhat uneasy.
1. Remoter Heaven
2. The Heir
3. Sun Violence
4. Deathless
5. Shade In Me
6. Hailstone
Listen to Deathless in full and buy it digitally or on limited 12″ vinyl here: https://lnk.to/Slate-Deathless
Photo Credit – Sam Stevens