The dreamy songs of Midwest indie rock outfit
Slow Pulp draw on moody shoegaze, hooky grunge, and intimate lo-fi fare. The band made their full-length debut with
Moveys in 2020.
Guitarist
Henry Stoehr, bass player
Alexander Leeds, and drummer
Theodore Mathews started making music together as friends in the sixth grade, naming their first band from letters in their first names. It wasn't until high school, when
Emily Massey contributed guitar and backing vocals to later incarnation
Slow Pulp's second EP, 2017's EP2, that an improved vision of the band clicked. They soon made
Massey lead singer and took down a debut EP that didn't involve her.
Now a four-piece, the group worked up the stand-alone tracks "At Home" and "Steel Birds," which they self-released in 2018 while relocating to Chicago. Written and mostly recorded in a cabin in Michigan in January 2019, the Big Day EP followed in May 2019.
Slow Pulp headed out on tour with
Alex G later in the year, as they worked on their full-length debut. The project was not without obstacles; material was scrapped, and
Massey struggled with her own health problems before returning to Madison to help her parents recover from a car accident. The COVID-19 pandemic soon limited travel. With
Stoehr acting as main engineer, producer, and mixer, they were able to complete the album long-distance. (
Massey's father, Michael, contributed an instrumental piano track.) Titled
Moveys, it arrived on Winspear in October 2020. ~ Marcy Donelson