The Slow Push – Misshapen Giants (15/08/2012)
Born and raised in the Brisbane music scene, local dance-rockers The Slow Push, have released their second album, Misshapen Giants as a follow up to their 2009 debut album.
As their second album, Misshapen Giants shows the continued growth of the band over the last few years with explorations of new textures and sounds. It sets out to fill in the areas that were a little lacking in their previous works, building up the energy levels of their studio work to that of their live shows. And while the album fails to capture every ounce of the thrashing intensity of their live shows, the raw edge of its production captures moments of their full-throttle, floor-stomping shows.
Known for their unique and rather minimalistic indie-rock sound, The Slow Push have continued to supply quirky and dance worthy tunes across the album. Despite the established approach to their songs, each track manages to capture a different tone that creates a large array of variations over the album as a whole. The tone of the album creates an almost unsettling vibe, with the pounding drums, raging guitar stabs and the shared, rather distinctive, vocals of both Maegan McKewen and Chris Hetherington topped off with off-kilter blasts of synth and electronic noises.
The lead single, Lions, captures the mood of the album with its toe tapping beat and lively vocals. Hetherington’s song writing on the track has a stripped down quality, creating a song that is strongly based on the rhythms and hooks. And overall it plays as an extremely infectious and memorable track; the perfect outcome for a single off any album. The second single, Maybe You’re A Myth, has a more upbeat sound, with the drum and bass lines more prominent in comparison to Lions. The tone differences continue with backing yelling (or more accurately, squealing) and moments of tambourine beats creating a fun and friendly song.
On the whole, Misshapen Giants encapsulates the quirky and fun sound that we have come to love from The Slow Push. Their exploration of new textures along with their more mature approach to song writing has paid off, and created a balanced and thoroughly dance-worthy album.
Bethany Williams
As their second album, Misshapen Giants shows the continued growth of the band over the last few years with explorations of new textures and sounds. It sets out to fill in the areas that were a little lacking in their previous works, building up the energy levels of their studio work to that of their live shows. And while the album fails to capture every ounce of the thrashing intensity of their live shows, the raw edge of its production captures moments of their full-throttle, floor-stomping shows.
Known for their unique and rather minimalistic indie-rock sound, The Slow Push have continued to supply quirky and dance worthy tunes across the album. Despite the established approach to their songs, each track manages to capture a different tone that creates a large array of variations over the album as a whole. The tone of the album creates an almost unsettling vibe, with the pounding drums, raging guitar stabs and the shared, rather distinctive, vocals of both Maegan McKewen and Chris Hetherington topped off with off-kilter blasts of synth and electronic noises.
The lead single, Lions, captures the mood of the album with its toe tapping beat and lively vocals. Hetherington’s song writing on the track has a stripped down quality, creating a song that is strongly based on the rhythms and hooks. And overall it plays as an extremely infectious and memorable track; the perfect outcome for a single off any album. The second single, Maybe You’re A Myth, has a more upbeat sound, with the drum and bass lines more prominent in comparison to Lions. The tone differences continue with backing yelling (or more accurately, squealing) and moments of tambourine beats creating a fun and friendly song.
On the whole, Misshapen Giants encapsulates the quirky and fun sound that we have come to love from The Slow Push. Their exploration of new textures along with their more mature approach to song writing has paid off, and created a balanced and thoroughly dance-worthy album.
Bethany Williams