Review: Slow Hollows - ‘Actors’

SLOW HOLLOWS
'ACTORS'

With ‘Actors’ Slow Hollows have crafted a true album experience that explores a variety of genres through a modern lens with poetic lyricism, one that's on the pulse of life and romance in 2019.

★★★★

‘Actors’ is the third record from Los Angeles multi-faceted, genre-bending group Slow Hollows. Led by frontman Austin Anderson who spent time between the groups previous record ‘Romance’ and ‘Actors’ collaborating with Frank Ocean on his critically acclaimed ‘Blonde’ and ‘Endless’ projects as well as assisting Tyler, The Creator on ‘Cherry Bomb’ and ‘Flower Boy’, Tyler returns the favour by adding his unique R&B production flourishes to the opulent ‘Heat’.

Poised as an experience that’s intended to be listened from front to back, in my opinion, there’s no better way to listen to this record than putting on a good quality pair of headphones and letting yourself sink into the lush, sense encompassing record that is ‘Actors’. The light sophisticated jazz-pop tones of ‘Actress’ immediately put you at ease before they meld into ‘You Are Now On Fire’ a glittery indie-pop masterpiece which also highlights the Saxophones return into modern pop culture with its significant presence on the track.

Early on we’re treated to the spectacular ‘Two Seasons’, a song that speaks of love and romance from a much more broader and philosophical perspective, the lyrics ‘do you love me or do you love the feeling’ and ‘Make believe that you’re not really what you seem to be’ manage to summarise so much about modern romance without managing to sound pretentious or cheesy, you feel like Anderson has his finger on the pulse when it comes to putting into words feelings you can’t describe yourself and the fact he manages to sum that all up in a sub 4 minute indie-pop song is even more incredulous. That’s a key factor throughout the record, Anderson’s poetic and smart lyricism.

There are a few moments where the album becomes more Lo-Fi and you can find yourself missing some of the albums more extravagant flourishes, the second half in particular. There’s a moment however where all the layers start to flood back in acoustically during the progressive and explosive ‘Come Back in’ which builds throughout like a Fleet Foxes track as various elements are introduced and intertwined, it feels spacious yet equally grandiose, it wouldn’t be amiss soundtracking a nature documentary or solar exploration as it explodes with bright positivity towards its conclusion.

As well as crafted lyricist and melodists, Slow Horrors are first and foremost seasoned musicians, who are incredibly talented and masters of their craft and when they stretch their limbs on tracks such as the evolving and dance-infused ‘Blood’ their ability comes to the forefront. ‘Get Along’ has a psychedelic and futuristic looping melody that puts you at ease, into a trance. its another example of how the record seemingly juxtaposes sounds and feelings to create such a unique sound.

The album ends in a more measured tone, ‘Hell’ another more reflective and interesting angle on modern relationships, a theme throughout. Finally ‘Heart (Reprise)’ strips the earlier original track and hones in on the emotion at the core of the song before slowly looping back to the Jazz sounds of opener ‘Actress’ creating a cyclical narrative.

The record is remarkably cohesive, there are of course standout moments, but every song feels distinct whilst being part of an overall vision. Despite their collaboration it feels most apt to compare the record to Tyler, The Creators own ‘IGOR’, for me another incredible record which balances vision, art and accessibility to equally high standards as ‘Actors’, It can’t be emphasised enough but what Anderson has achieved here in sense of creating an ‘album’ and its production is incredibly impressive and as the album began to fade out in a jazz-infused haze, all I wanted to do was to start the journey back over again.