One week before on August 8th, the single ‘Never Come Back’ will be released on the same label.
Complete with a mysterious masked dancer and clever camera trickery, the video leaves the raw rock’n’roll honesty of ‘(And the) Pictures in the Sky’ behind and plays up to the psychedelic, 60s-inspired side to the duo, polished off with a stylish, avant-garde edge.
‘Slow Down’ came about almost by accident with Hyde emerging from behind his usual place behind the drum-kit with The Futureheads to take on vocals and both Hyde & Beast writing, recording, producing and mixing the album themselves, resulting in a very special project born out of a labour of love and a wonderful detour from the pair’s usual musical output.
Recorded at Beast’s Sunderland studio at the rate of one song a day, familiar faces stepped in to assist – Field Music’s David Brewis and solo artist Lucas Renney provided some beautiful bass and guitar on two tracks ‘Lord, Send For Me’ and ‘You Will Be Lonely’.
A sprawling, gentle psychedelic meander, ‘Slow Down’ harks back to a more experimental approach to song-writing, with some of the songs seemingly writing themselves as they recorded live in the studio. Inspired by the music Hyde & Beast love listening to, ‘Slow Down’ recalls a golden age of mainstream pop meeting the sonic adventurism and kaleidoscopic music from the late ’60s and early ’70s, with more than a nod to the greats of that era Captain Beefheart, Velvet Underground and T Rex.
You can catch Hyde & Beast playing the following shows this Summer:
July 30th: Sunderland, Independent
August 7th: Newcastle, Ignition Festival
September 18th: Sunderland, Split Festival