Slowrush are a Bordeaux-based Anglo-French trio who deliver alternative pop numbers featuring timeless tunes, verses, choruses, and bridges, all in convenient three-minute packages.
Guitarist and lead vocalist Tim Pike draws on years spent listening to classic melodic British artists such as Blur, XTC and Joe Jackson. His son Dorian Pike is on drums, bringing a refreshing millennial touch to proceedings, citing influences descending from Radiohead, including Squid, Everything Everything and Black Midi. On bass, Olivier Rols has an enviable track record in local bands and is equally at home playing rock, jazz and even punk! After collaborating on various one-off projects in recent years, forming a bona fide band came naturally to the three musicians.
Slowrush's main news is the release of their fifth four-track collection, The Story Starts..., across all streaming platforms. True to what has become their trademark, the three musicians once again draw inspiration from unusual Bordeaux and Gironde themes on this new release.
With its acoustic folk-pop atmosphere, a visit to the 'Twin City Gardens' to the north of Bordeaux promises an exotic "voyage on the spot", as illustrated in the accompanying video which shows the band lipsyncing to the song very approximately in slow motion.
The electric guitar-led power pop number 'Degrees of Separation', revisits the career of legendary New York musician and composer Mort Shuman, who is buried in the Caudéran district of Bordeaux. 'The Story Starts (With a Bass Guitar)' tells the astonishing story of Gilles Bertin, bassist with Bordeaux punk band Camera Silens in the 1980s, before he was involved in a robbery and fled to Portugal and then Spain. After 30 years on the run, Bertin sought to redeem himself and rebuild his identity from scratch. This track, with its hypnotic bass line, is one of the most ambitious and hard-hitting in Slowrush's repertoire.
The EP closes with a much calmer track that doesn't deal with a Gironde theme, but whose title is nonetheless a nod to France: 'Amie Mon Amie'. Largely instrumental, the melancholy song enjoys a unique atmosphere, thanks in particular to the presence of the vocals provided by Olivier's wife Elise Rols, who adds an unexpected dimension to the track, the lyrics of which are the work of Tim's long-time friend John Parker. The accompanying video crosses the Atlantic, using scenes from a 1940s home movie featuring an unknown young American lady.
This new release follows on from debut E.P. The Parallel World, which came out in July 2020 and is also available on CD; the standalone singles 'Overnight' and 'Urban Experiment' (the latter featured in Spotify's influential Courant Alternatif playlist); 2021's The Neighbourhood E.P.; This Used To Be The Future in 2022; and last year's Navigation & Time. Throughout, Slowrush have always made a point of covering oddball local themes such as the mysterious story of disgraced silent movie star Max Linder, the worthy purpose behind the bronze 3D map sculptures positioned at various locations in Bordeaux city centre, the murky past of the passenger hovercraft industry in Pauillac, and what it's like to visit the spot where the Greenwich Meridian and the 45th Parallel North converge in Puynormand... the centre of the northern hemisphere!
Slowrush are also a living, breathing, real-world band whose entertaining live set has already been experienced at various venues in Bordeaux, La Teste-de-Buch, Saint-Jean-d'Illac, Saint-Aubin-de-Médoc, Chamouillac, Saint-Loubès, Mérignac and Pessac... More dates to be announced soon!
You can follow the band’s adventures on Instagram (@slowrushband), Twitter (@slowrushband) and Facebook (@slowrushbdx)!