AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SLOW GOAT — “LOVE LIKE WATER”

(written by Islander)

Clear your mind and then open it for something that’s a bit off the usual beaten paths around this site, but is still plenty heavy and cloaked in darkness (and frankly, a hell of a lot of neck-wrecking fun to hear and see).

What we’re talking about is the band Slow Goat and the song and video we’re premiering to help spread the word about their debut album Where the Wisest Fear to Tread, which is now set for release on July 10th. To help prepare for the experience, consider these words lifted from a press release we received:

Gamy riffs cut from the flank of the Pacific Northwest. Portland, Oregon’s Slow Goat peddles in the heavy and the psychedelic, with fuzzed-out jams thick enough to chew on, all anchored by clear and commanding vocals that drift between ethereal and feral.

“Gamy riffs cut from the flank of the Pacific Northwest.” That line has been stuck in my head ever since I first saw it a few weeks back. It makes this PNW-based writer smile every time I think of it — especially because it’s accurate, and because the music brings evil smiles too.

The song you’re about to hear, “Love Like Water“, is indeed a gamy riff monster. Slow Goat slather those riffs with fuzz, charge them up with high voltage, and jam them into a listener’s veins with exhilarating consequences. Slow Goat enhance the song’s pulse-punching intensity with gut-slugging bass heaviness, skull-rattling drum-grooves, and lysergic acid soloing that warps and wails.

And speaking of exhilaration, “Love Like Water” is a showcase for Slow Goat vocalist Rosie Peterson, whose high-flying singing spears up and out of the snarling, fuzz-bombed filthiness of the riffs with contrasting clarity (and a lot of passion). And yes, Slow Goat’s music is an exception to the porous “rule” in our site’s name — a well-earned exception.

The song is a compulsive muscle-mover, but as forecast above, it’s also cloaked in darkness. You can see the shadows even when the song is surging, but even more clearly near the end when the pace slows, the music becomes gloomy and woozy, and Rosie Peterson sends her voice soaring toward the rafters with feral wails that might send a shiver down your spine.

The video shot and edited by Eddie Brnabic is great companion for the song, affording excellent close-up views of what it’s like to see Slow Goat on stage (they obviously know how to put on a show), and edited in a way that enhances rather than distracts from the song’s primal compulsions.

And now, to further your introduction to Slow Goat and their debut album, here’s a statement from the band that’s worth reading in full:

Debut album Where the Wisest Fear to Tread took shape over nearly four years, growing with us as we pushed and refined the ideas behind it. The music is close to our hearts, and we’re excited to share it with listeners.

There are no heroes or triumphant victories in these songs. Yet there is persistence in the face of inevitability, endurance through futility, and an embrace of that which evokes suffering. Where the Wisest Fear to Tread explores darkness and realms beyond, from the terror within waking nightmare, to the stark reality reflected back in the mirror.

The album title itself, a line from the track “Fell Ritual,” serves equally as a warning and invitation to bear anguish. And while many of the album’s themes draw on personal experience and a compulsion to look inward, we encourage the listener to derive their own meaning, or simply none at all. The record does not offer resolution so much as it documents the act of pressing forward despite it.

Sonically, we wanted the album to have real weight and gravity without sacrificing the raw edge of our live experience. One of our main songwriting philosophies is to approach the music live-first; it needs to feel full and complete on stage as one vocalist, guitarist, bassist, and drummer.

To that end, we didn’t rely heavily on studio magic to make the music something it’s not, rather, we used things like overdubs or effects to embellish on an already-strong core. Anecdotally, at least one of the long guitar solos on the record came from an early scratch take during the first session.

SLOW GOAT is:
Rosie Peterson – Vocals
Danel Black – Guitar
Adam Carter – Bass
Eric Bloombaum – Drums

Where the Wisest Fear to Tread was engineered and mixed by Eddie Brnabic (Hippie Death Cult) and it was mastered by the veteran Jack Endino. It comes your way recommended for fans of Black Sabbath, Trouble, Kyuss, Judas Priest, Acid King, and Windhand. It’s up for pre-order now:

PRE-ORDER:
https://slowgoat.bandcamp.com/album/where-the-wisest-fear-to-tread

FOLLOW:
https://linktr.ee/SlowGoat
https://www.instagram.com/slowgoatpdx
https://www.facebook.com/SlowGoatPDX/