Fevered, euphoric live shows are fed by intense, relatable music and Manchester’s shadow-lurking indie romantics, The Slow Readers Club precede the start of their latest UK and Ireland Tour with the release of powerful new single,Animals. Taking to the stage in Belfast this Friday (22 November2024) and working through a run of eight, largely SOLD-OUT dates including an inevitably rapturous Manchester home coming at theO2 Ritz, fans can expect the first airings of new songs from their upcoming, seventh studio album, Out Of A Dream
Set for release on Fri 14 March 2025, the band set high expectations for their newest collection of songs by revealing first single,Techno fear, last month. Eyes open to the troubles and trials influencing every footstep taken through the modern world, those warnings on the smoke bomb effects of social media on the truth now give way to intense matters of the heart. Serotonin-sapping obsession and impulse in the whirlwind of romance meets the settling impact of long-term human connection as the Animals bobs and weaves through heavily riffed, dramatic peaks and knee-hugging, introspective plains of observed emotion.
Singer, Aaron Starkie, says:“‘Animals’ is us doing full on euphoric guitar pop, full of energy and drama.It’s a celebration of intense, all-consuming primal love. Infatuation as a magic spell. It’s about a longing for togetherness and sanctuary, as an escape from the bleak reality of the outside world.
“When we were writing it felt like a big nostalgic stadium ballad, leaning into that with lines like “just like an old-time crooner, I sing a song to win your heart” and “come join me for communion, come join me dancing in the dark. It’ll be a natural addition to the more febrile sections of our live set.”
Cultivating a supernatural, mutually appreciative bond with their fans since The Slow Readers Club’s‘breakthrough’ album, 2015’s Cavalcade, propelled them onto bigger national and international stages,the band’s sense of street-smart, soul-mining drama has drawn comparisons to peers Killers, Depeche Mode, Radiohead and Arcade Fire. Nowhere else has that sense of collective commitment and release evident than during the band’s celebratory gigs, scenes destined to be matched, if not bettered on The Slow Readers Club’s forthcoming UK & Ireland dates, confirmed as follows:
Fri 22 Nov – Belfast, Limelight
Sat 23 No – Dublin, Academy
Thu 28 Nov – Nottingham, Rescue Roooms
Fri 29 Nov – Bristol, Thekla
Sat 30 Nov -London, Village Underground
Thu 5 Dec – Manchester, O2 Ritz
Fri 6 Dec – Glasgow, Stereo
Sat 7 Dec -Leeds, Project House
Any remaining tickets can be found via links on the band’s website at: https://theslowreadersclub.co.uk/
Photo credit – Liam Maxwell