Slowcore
Slowcore,[a] also known as sadcore, is a subgenre of indie rock characterised by its subdued tempos, minimalist instrumentation, and sombre vocal performances.
Codeine, Red House Painters, and Bedhead all released influential albums earlier that decade, while American Music Club—widely considered to be the genre's first act—formed in 1982.
Spain, Duster, and Ida, among others, all followed Low and furthered the reach of the genre, and by the 2000s, slowcore had a defined sound, even if it continued to lack obvious categorisation.
Artists like Carissa's Wierd, Jason Molina, and Duster incorporated its archetypical sound in their music throughout the introductory years of the 21st century, while others, including Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions, Grouper, and Sun Kil Moon, were more experimental but remained within the genre's confines.
Slowcore uses simple melodies over a prolonged period to evoke saddening emotions; Andrea Swensson of Pitchfork wrote that the genre "gently pulls [the listener] out of linear time".
[15] For example, Swedish singer Stina Nordenstam has been described as slowcore because of "her sadly beautiful little-girl whisper" style of singing.
[10] Stuart Braithwaite, a founding member of the renowned post-rock band Mogwai, said "You weren't going to play [slowcore] at parties, but it was beautiful: the lyrics bare and honest, the musicality sparing".
[24] Reviewers also used it in passing for albums such as Red House Painters' Rollercoaster (1993),[25] Shearwater's Everybody Makes Mistakes (2002),[26] and Low's box set A Lifetime of Temporary Relief (2004).
[36][14][2] The first instance of "slowcore" cited in the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1991: Chuck Eddy's book Stairway to Hell: The 500 Best Heavy Metal Albums in the Universe.
In an interview with The Paper Crane podcast, Sparhawk said his friend had coined the term "slowcore" as a joke and that he had humorously mentioned it in one of his band's earliest shows (c.
[35][40] Matt Kadane of Bedhead called it an "insult" and Jim Putnam of Radar Bros. resisted the term and repeatedly informed music journalists that his band was "not slowcore".
[41] The sound that would become known as "slowcore" began emerging in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a counterpoint to the rapid growth of louder rock genres, especially grunge.
[48] This style was echoed by other bands at the time, such as the Canadian Cowboy Junkies, who were creating minimalist country and blues,[49][50] and would come to define aspects of slowcore.
Their sophomore album, On Fire (1989), strongly influenced the genre,[11] as did the rest of their discography,[36][51] although their dream pop style was not entirely indicative of how slowcore would develop.
[56] Codeine's music received attention over the following years, and after the release of the Barely Real extended play in 1992, the Toronto Star described them as having a "unique 'slowcore' sound".
[64] Other bands, such as Acetone, Slint, and Swans were producing slow songs that, on the outset, appeared to relate to slowcore but were better categorised under these other emerging genres.
[2] Formed in 1993 by Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker, the band started by experimenting with slow and quiet rock music and in December 1994, released their debut album I Could Live in Hope.
[17][67] This album was different from its predecessors: while it maintained stylistic similarities with other bands' sparse instrumentation,[68] it was more difficult to categorise into the other associated genres, like dream pop or shoegaze.
Due to this unique sound, Low are heralded as pioneers of the genre;[1][14] in their review of Trust (2002), Brad Haywood of Pitchfork proclaimed I Could Live in Hope and Long Division (1995) "drew the blueprint for slowcore as we know it today".
She writes, in respect of the first three: "the genre grew to encompass the blue lullabies of Spain; the hypnotic intimacy of the For Carnation [...]; [and] the whispered confessions of early Cat Power".
[80][81] Whereas subcultures like emo and NYHC became ever-more constricting over time, [slowcore] began with a specific set of goals and expanded outward.
Early on, pundits noted that this band departed from the slowcore sound present in Red House Painters releases to instead opt for folk-inspired song construction.
Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star and Colm Ó Cíosóig of the shoegaze pioneering My Bloody Valentine formed this duo in 2001, and shortly after, released Bavarian Fruit Bread (2001).
[93] The song would go relatively unnoticed until it went viral several years later,[94] following which the band released their self-titled debut album in 2017, described by Pitchfork as a "slowcore collection [that] borders on ambient".
[10] Together, this usage increased public interest in slowcore, and its newfound growth allowed both existing bands—like Duster—to receive a resurgence in success and enabled new bands to emerge onto the scene.
[12][96] Rubsam listed Planning for Burial, Grouper, Kowloon Walled City, and Worm Ouroboros as examples of "post-slow" bands in his timeline of slowcore, a category "reflecting a broadening and a deepening of the sound".
[10] Reviewers have described and labeled releases from contemporary singer-songwriters as slowcore, including those of Nicole Dollanganger,[98] Ethel Cain,[99] Daughter,[10] and Snail Mail.
