Dharavi

"Dharavi" is the debut album from noise-rockers So Slow. The band features musicians previously associated with such acts as Alameda 4, Sunrise, The Band Of Endless Noise, Czerń, T'ien Lai, Iron To Gold, Daymares and Cast In Iron. "Dharavi" wouldn't be out of place in Dischord or Touch & Go rosters.

– The beginnings were pretty hard because we spent some time searching of our own identity. We also decided to throw some songs away – remembers Arek Lerch (drums). – It took a lot of effort to arrive with this project at this exact spot but I believe that our previous experiences helped us in many ways. Especially when speaking about making our music coherent. We wouldn't call ourselves musical purists but on the other hand we don't want to leave our roots behind – adds bands guitarist Adam Sanocki.

Work on "Dharavi", due to big distances separating the band from its vocalist Łukasz Jędrzejczak (T'ien Lai), took more of an e-mail based form. Vocals and electronics were recorded in Bydgoszcz, while the instrumental parts in Warsaw. – It was a year of really heavy work – says Lerch.

One of the main lyrical themes is the social aspect of urbanism. – Concept album may be too big a term but "Dharavi" really touches on certain topics that appear throughout the album. There is this idea in social sciences that associates all social problems with urban problems and almost every important statement about modern society is connected in a way to urbanism. We can observe this in Detroit where economical crisis created an almost post-apocalyptic landscape – explains Jędrzejczak. – But the lyrics were also inspired by Futurists, dystopian sci-fi, Georg Trakl, Rainer Maria Rilke and neo-Marxism. Please be aware that our music is not a manifest. Let's leave it to scientists, writers and politicians – he adds.

* Released June 30, 2014

* Daniel Kryj – guitar

* Adam Sanocki – guitar

* Łukasz Jędrzejczak – keys/vocals/electronics

* Łukasz Szymański – bass

* Arek Lerch – drums

feat.

* Radek Dziubek – electronics on "Dharavi"

* Rafał Wawszkiewicz – saxophone on "1852" and "Starzy są już królowie świata"

* Tomasz Gadomski – Buzzing Bow in "Dharavi", water phone on "Delray"

* Antek Szymański – vocals on "Delray"