If we are perhaps finally seeing the dying embers or slowing of the ‘Punk Pop explosion’, then it is clear there are a couple of explosions ready to take its place. We have the Electro Indie Pop of the likes of Bastille and Arcade Fire. Then there is Post-Punk throwback sounds of the likes of The Editors and Interpol. Admittedly, those two bands in particular have been at it for years, so it’s not a new sensation but I am seeing more and more bands of this genre.
Limerick 3 piece, Slow Riot, are one such band and they make no apologies for what they are. No doubt inspired by the success of those two modern bands in particular, Slow Riot also clearly demonstrate influences that go right back to the original Post-Punk movement, with Joy Division and Bauhaus both springing to mind. You’d have to say the video is, at the very least, an homage to Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ in both style and atmosphere. I don’t have a problem with this. It is much better to admit and embrace your influences than to shamelessly deny them. So, what we have here is classic Post-Punk – doleful, almost unemotional vocals from Niall Clancy, melancholy/introspective/lovelorn lyrics against a strong drum and bass backdrop with cutting guitar and the merest hint of old-school (one-fingered) synth. It is very well produced, as it manages to sound sparse and yet not empty, with each element given its correct level.
When I were a lad, it was the type of music the (faux) intellectual fellas and girls (who I usually fancied rotten – the girls that is) who loved oversized black cardigans and drawing spidery patterns in black biro over their English Literature file, would have listened to . Are such people still alive? Absolutely they are – they are called ‘Emos’ now. So, this music clearly has an audience in 2014, and Slow Riot have got their finger on that slow-beating pulse. They’ve just played their first London show and have a slew of Irish dates lined up. It would be nice to see them north of the border at some point.
‘Demons’ is taken from the bands self-titled E.P. which is available now at https://slowriotireland.bandcamp.com/
