Slows Down is the musical pseudonym of London-based solo artist Alexander Hawthorne. His self-title EP came out on the 11th February and the minimalistic nature of the four tracks belies the huge amount of production work needed to create this kind of psychedelia.
The first two tracks – ‘The Blues Easing’ and ‘On My Street’ – remind me of an early Pink Floyd on the cusp of the demise of Syd Barrett’s involvement with the group and the introduction of Dave Gilmour. I could almost be listening to previously unreleased tracks from ‘Ummagumma’. The menacing, opening arpeggiated chords and high drone of the opening track certainly has a very retro ’60s’ feel. Hawthorne’s voice is very like Barratt’s in fact and the whole tone of the second track seems almost modelled on ‘Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun’. I was just waiting for the brief burst of madness after the calm and, sure enough, it came at the end.
‘In My Room’ takes a different approach and seems to draw on the great classic Westerns movie themes. This is Clint Eastwood done the psychedelic way! This artist draws on a variety of styles – from Middle Eastern to Radiohead – and the resulting mix is an interesting ‘curry-like’ sound which is hard to define.
‘The Way Down Leering’
‘The Way Down Leering’, the final track, begins with an eerie, ghostly riff making this an intriguing – and strangely catchy – track. This is possibly my favorite of the four from the EP. It’s the one which most pulls away from the laidback, chilled-out sound this artist excels at while never straying from the psychedlia.
All in all, this is a pleasing EP which promises much from the self-taught multi-instrumentalist and I’m looking forward to hearing the proposed full album which, I believe, is next on the ‘to do’ list.
