Liverpool art-rock trio SPQR announce signing to Modern Sky Records with new single “Slowly”

Retaining the typical SPQR tropes (or, at least as typical as you can be over the course of one previous EP and a handful of singles), “Slowly” is a firm flag in the ground as to where SPQR currently stand.

There remains the visceral, slightly oddball aesthetic that made their debut so enthralling, though it has undergone some notable refinement.

The performance of vocalist and guitarist, Peter Harrison, for one, has grown in both confidence and personality. Always sounding somewhat maniacal, on “Slowly” he shows himself to truly be the cultic figurehead he continually threatened on The House That Doubt Built, putting in his most freakish shift to date.

Bringing in Margo Broom at Hermitage Works Studios (Fat White Family, Goat Girl, Dead Pretties) may have played a role in this personal evolution, though that would only be in addition to the literal sonic progression evident here. Giving SPQR’s sound greater depth and bringing Harrison’s vocals more to the fore, Broom’s work rounds off the stark jump in calibre between “Slowly” and the band’s previous releases.

Commenting on the track, Harrison says, “"Slowly" was one of those ‘deliberate writes’. I sat down and really forced it out of me. I think you can tell. I like to think that it’s one of those heavily bass-driven tracks, which some SPQR songs are. On the recording we really got that ‘clicky’ bass sound I had in my head, and I’m so grateful to Margo for that.

He adds, “For me personally this song is all about the bridge section—it’s where I feel I’m at right now with my songwriting and I knew I could slip it in here and it would fit. I got to play some piano on there too, which I’m trying to do more of."