SLOW PULP’S “MOVEYS” ALBUM REVIEW

After having released many singles over the past few years, Chicago-based indie group Slow Pulp at last presented their debut album, “Moveys,” earlier this month, a work obviously confident, creative, and quite familiar, all the same.

Inhabiting a genre filled with catchy basslines and melodramatic prose (meant in the best way possible, of course), Moveys does not disappoint. If anything, it is a testament to its creators’ ultimate comfort in their performance, evidence that they know these specific conventions of alternative and indie music like the back of their hand.

Interestingly enough, despite the album clearly hitting all the marks, a listener of Moveys will immediately notice the differences that do make themselves known – arguably one of the most important being an overall slightly older sound than is common in contemporary music.

Moveys most harkens back to late-’90s/early 2000s pop-rock. Slow Pulp weaponizes the inherent nostalgia of this era, whether intentionally or not, and uses it to deliver lyricism that, for the most part, blends right in, too. Melancholy vocals and moody-electric guitar chords are the name of the game, and the band knows what it’s doing for sure in that regard.

Very noteworthy are the couple of ambience tracks toward the end that shake up the otherwise consistent style. The latter of the two is the closing, titular track, fascinatingly composed as a mid-to-late ’80s, softcore hip-hop beat, all bouncy and complexly produced.

Regarding the consistency throughout, if there’s anything that Moveys struggles with, it’s an overreliance on the specific, albeit effective, formula Slow Pulp has crafted for themselves. No doubt heavily inspired by the band’s peers in the genre, this formula is certainly unique enough, but its heavy presence (especially in the first half) creates a battlefield where each track must fight for greater individual distinction, a situation less than desirable..

This work represents a band that has fully mastered the basics, and is ready to reinvent the wheel in their own way and leave an impressive and distinct legacy in their wake. But simultaneously, Moveys also serves to demonstrate all the potential Slow Pulp has yet to let themselves embrace. 3.5/5