Slow Pulp’s new album ‘Yard‘ brings us music that feels like a good cry

Full of synthetic imagery and sensation, Slow Pulp’s Yard explores themes of closeness and growing up with the band, which is reflected in their signature playful collaboration. On the other hand, themes of isolation and comfort with oneself are also evident. Feelings of loss, longing, and trust are explored in the musically intricate and intimate album.

The Chicago-based band who grew up together in Wisconsin, released their first EP EP2 in 2017 as a four piece. In 2018, the band moved in together and relocated to Chicago, which fostered the environment for their Big Day EP to be written and recorded. The band spent 2019 touring with Alex G and working on their debut full-length record, Movies. Slow Pulp found a silver lining in Massey’s health struggles with Lyme disease, and discovered their affinity for Emily’s recorded vocals by her dad, Michael - who also recorded her vocals on Yard. “Working together we can be very honest with each other in a way that I wouldn't be able to do with a stranger or a producer that's not my family. He already has so much context for what the songs are about, knowing my life so intimately,” says Emily Massey, singer and guitarist.

Chilling desolation, rejection, and Slow Pulp’s unique songwriting style is evident in “Gone 2,” the first song on the album’s final mix and lyrics. Massey says, “Gone is about searching for love in other people or searching for things and feeling like you're not doing a good enough job at it or feeling like you're coming too late to it.” The band took inspiration from the soundless visuals to the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ music video for “Scar Tissue”, after watching it on mute. The “2” was added just before turning the record in when the band decided to scrap the first and record a new version. “It was a silver song and we turned it into a brown and purple song,” Stoehr says matter-of-factly, the other three nodding in agreement. 

More upbeat and angsty sonically, “Doubt” ‘sounds like wakeboarding,’ according to the band. “Doubt is quite dark lyrically, but it is found in this upbeat and almost campy environment,” says Emily Massey. This catchy song is strategically placed at the beginning of the album as track 2, with lyrics that reflect on begging for external validation. Doubt taunts its listeners by making them yearn. “I like that by the end of the album, you're finding the love within yourself, not searching for it within other people. It has that full circle moment, in that way.”

“Cramps,” one of the singles on Yard, is an upbeat track and third on the album. As a throwback, the chords to “Slugs” are from a song Henry Stoehr (guitar) wrote for his crush in the sixth grade. Track 4 on the album, the lyrics refer to a an ex, a summer hit, whose presence is missed. The title track, “Yard,” is a raw-to-the-bone piano ballad. Massey wails the outro, driving home the potent lyrics: “I don’t wanna be / I’m selfish.”

“MUD” is a heartwrenching ballad that contains the signature dull-ache that Slow Pulp always does right. The song transitions into a pop-punk inspired interrogation of an unfaithful lover in the chorus, then back to a belt-in-the-car-while-crying-song. Track 6, “Carina Phone 1000” is an acoustic poem with pop nuances that explores coming to terms with losing someone close to you. This is another song that pulls at the heartstrings, with lyrics like, “That’s life I guess.” Similar to “MUD,” “Broadview” is another charged downtempo banger. Massey reaches new vocal heights in this weepy Americana. “Broadview”’s unique instrumentation features a harmonica, Peter Briggs on the pedal steel, and Willie Christianson on the banjo. As the 9th track on Yard, this song is a self-reflective anthem.

The lyrics to the closing song, “Fishes,” were written while Massey was alone at a cabin, listening to Lucinda Williams “Do you think Lucy understands?” and watching fish swim around in a lake. “Do you think Lucy understands?” are also lyrics featured in the song, among other painful lyrics. Fishes gives the album a cohesive ending as the 10th and final track, acknowledging Massey’s new-found capability of self-love.

Yard leaves us with the authentic and personal reminder to not seek validation externally through it’s innovative gentleness and meditative lyrics on self-acceptance.

Yard is out now.