Slow Club's Yeah So

Slow Club's Charles Watson and Rebecca Taylor give Ragged Words a track by track guide to their debut album Yeah So out via Moshi Moshi this week and to be reviewed in the coming days.

1) WHEN I GO

Charles: “When I Go was written on holiday in Athens.. The intention was to come back with a tan and wedge of new songs… I ended up just playing this song all week.”

2) GIVING UP ON LOVE

Charles: “We started this song in the back room of the Liverpool Barfly. If you have ever been there you will know that its kind of like a dungeon, I am not really sure how it ended up sounding so upbeat.”
Rebecca: “The lyrics came from the idea of just completely giving up on the idea of Love. We have friends that never complicate their lives with any romantic involvement and seem so happy.”

3) I WAS UNCONSCIOUS, IT WAS A DREAM

Rebecca: “Many of our songs have a few trains of thought running throughout. Charles thinks that sleep talking can ruin people’s lives, so it’s about that. And also the way our lives involve a lot of leaving places before we really want to.”

4) IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE BEAUTIFUL

Rebecca: “We wrote this song about how horrible and wonderful being in love can be. The way that riding on buses or standing in line for things, when you are with someone, never seems like a chore, and how great that can be. But, also, the vile nature of the constant wondering and thinking and over analyzing when you are apart.”
Charles: “Most of the songs on the album are brand new, not alot of people will know this song unless they have seen us play quite recently.  We had some friends play it with us in the studio. I guess the chorus is very poppy but to the verse feel like a bit jam, and trust me, i dont use that word a lot but it works.”

5) BECAUSE WERE DEAD

Charles: “This is the very first song that ever became a ‘SLOW CLUB’ song and we still love playing it today.”

6) THERE IS NO GOOD WAY TO SAY I AM LEAVING YOU

Charles: “We play this song live on guitar but on the album its on piano which is the way it is supposed to sound. We were doing a recording session in Hackney last year and we were spending lots of time structuring a few songs and few recorded this in about 40 minutes. i really like all the little mistakes on the recording.”

7) THE TROPHY ROOM

Charles: “This song was written about a friend of my sisters. She was living with someone who was a compulsive liar and it really interested me how some peoples heads work... we spent a lot of time talking about it and made ‘trophy room’ into a story of escapism.”

8) DANCE ‘TIL THE MORNING LIGHT

Charles: “We have a tradition of writing songs for each other for our birthdays. The lyrics to this song were very different played drunk and slow on the floor of Beccy's 21st Birthday Party…”

9) COME ON YOUTH

Charles: “Come on Youth was born out of one of the most disappointing days of the year. i went on a date with a girl to the coast, planned a walk on the beach, maybe buy a kite and all the other stuff…. Just as we got to Whitby the heavens opened.  We sat in a pub to see if the rain would subside, but when we came out of the pub it was like the scene from Jumangi when the stampeed comes through wall, but replace the rhinos with firemen and pelicans with small town OAP's wearing those fleese's with pictures of wolves on them.

“We decided to call it a day and waded through the water to get back to my car. It took two hours to reach the motorway and just before we got there I crashed my car… I didn’t get a kiss but at least I got a song out of it.”
 
10) SORRY ABOUT THE DOOM

Rebecca: This song was written very quickly in the middle of the night in my parents house. I would like it to be a song to learn from, I want it to remind me to say goodbye to something/one first next time.

11) APPLES AND PAIRS

Rebecca: This is another older generation Slow Club song, the recording was one of the 1st times we experimented with more instruments etc. We bullied Charles' friends into playing brass against everything they had been taught. This was the beginning of a term we use often in the studio now which is 'make it more Moulin Rouge'.

12) OUR MOST BRILLIANT FRIENDS

Charles: This song was written in the middle of the night after a day spent with two friends who i really admire and are incredibly talented, but both beginning to wonder if they should carry on pursuing their creative careers. I was really shocked by this, as i am most things in the world today. Like electric tin openers and online banking.

13) BOYS ON THEIR BIRTHDAYS

Rebecca: This is a recording we made in Ireland with Brian O'Murchu on the drums and Jamie Morrison playing, very aptly, the top of empty wine glasses. We were in a warm converted garage in the middle of the night, with one candle on a stool and alot of red wine consumed. I think you can hear the hang over in the song, in a good way. Maybe. The song is about one very unfortunate week. But in the same week some wonderful things happened. I met some people I wish I hadn't, and some that have changed the way I think about things since. I also did some hardcore dancing and was in terrible pain afterwards because playing the drums stood up has ruined my shins.