On
Paradise,
Slow Club remain a double-sided duo equally capable of heartbreaking folk ballads or brash indie pop, but their second album also shows how much they’ve grown from the
Yeah, So? days. They don’t waste any time showing how much bigger and bolder they sound: the audacious opening track “Two Cousins” pairs
Charles Watson and Rebecca Taylor's twinned vocals with bright keyboards, adding a cheery tinge to plaintive concerns like “where your heart goes when you die.” They follow that with “If We’re Still Alive,” which is all call-and-response vocals and crashing rhythms that are anything but slow. Indeed, the duo’s pop side really takes flight on
Paradise, whether it’s the stomping “Beginners” or the full-on joyous “The Dog,” which boasts staccato guitars that recall
the Walkmen at their boldest. Yet
Watson and Taylor keep everything that made
Yeah, So? such a special debut. “Hackney Marsh” reaffirms how impressive the pair’s harmonies are -- they’re complementary lead parts instead of a main and backing vocal -- with the intimacy of a live recording. Meanwhile,
Watson gets close enough to break your heart on the cozy “Horses Jumping,” which moves from a simple acoustic ballad into something more expansive as he sings “good love is hard to regret/when you know it was real.” Though
Slow Club can make rainy day music with the best of them, there’s always a silver lining to their songs, no matter how sad they get. A strangely reverent feel permeates the album, particularly the beautiful meditation on grief “Where I’m Waking” and the hidden title track, which feels like a more genuine version of
Cults. Polished yet heartfelt,
Paradise finds
Slow Club shoring up their strengths and exploring new territory with equal confidence. ~ Heather Phares