The Slow and Steady Winter is Slow Dancing Society’ follow up to the amazing debut The Sound of Lights When Dim, and is fittingly the second of three re-releases of his material on West Australian label Hidden Shoal Recordings. Slow Dancing Society aka. Drew Sullivan focuses his sights on epicness here, and succeeds without as much as a sneeze, crafting a slow motion epic of glacial ambience.
It’s always nice when the opening track of a release sets the mood and pace for what is to follow, and “The Early Stages of Decline’ does so with effortless aplomb. Soaring tones and synths rise up like slow motion waves smashing onto rock. Long, arching distortions glide across the landscape weightlessly, visible long into the distance. “Depths of December’ moves heavily in the twilight, floating just above the ice in ominous repose. “A Slow and Steady Winter’ has a familiar distorted organ tone, but moves with a slower purpose, as blasts of guitar ache in and out of view. “The Time We’ve Spent’s begins with the crackle of stylus on wax, and has nostalgia written all over it. Suddenly a beat rises out of nowhere, followed quickly by guitar lines that would be out of place in an ballad from two decades past. “Never Ending’ returns to the tundra, bringing with it the familiar tones of slide guitar, something which Sullivan used quite well on his debut release. There’ a very gentle straightforwardness to this piece, utilising space over dense instrumentation to achieve its desired results. Shoegaze style guitar and cymbal swells propel “Romantica’, while “The Rest of Our Lives’ throws down a beat drenched in reverb and long, open guitar chords, achieving motion without actually moving very far at all. Closer “February Sun’ settles down like a feather floating down from the sky, before turning back to the ballad like tendencies and David Gilmour style guitar lines of yesteryear, finishing off in retrospective fashion.
Somehow, this release perfectly portrays winter, without being cold and detracted. In certain sections, particularly the second half of the release, alot of the chordal structures are quite Eighties informed, yet somehow stay away from cheesiness. Like any great submersive ambient work, this should be played loud, as to completely immerse yourself in the sonic vistas Sullivan paints. Sometimes slow and poignant, in others wistful and shoegaze, yet always engaging.
Nick Giles
