Written and Photos by Alexandra Howard
I feel nostalgia for a time that didn’t exist when I listen to Slow Pulp. At their show on
Thursday, November 5th, I started thinking about when I first heard “Falling Apart” in 2020. The song, off of their debut album Moveys, reminds me deeply of that time, but not in a bad way at all. I feel nostalgia for the 90s. For random times. For the time I worked at White Oak Music Hall in 2021—and for the relationship I was in during the Covid-years.
None of those things are quite accessible in the way they once were. But that’s okay, too. That night also feels like a mini-reunion: I get to see their touring sound engineer, Jesse Paller, for the first time since the Horsegirl tour last year. Before the show, he sends me a picture of their emerald-green tour bus that’s taking them around the country and sets me up with an AAA pass. 
The show opens with “Better Man,” the lead single from their new album Melodie. The song is propelled by eighth notes on the snare and singer Emily Massey’s bright, smooth, and soaring vocals. They play “Cramps,” a loud alt-rock shoegaze song, followed by “Slugs,” in which Massey sings one of my favorite Slow Pulp lyrics: ‘Cause you’re a summer hit / I’m singing it. Both songs are from their sophomore album Yard. 
I hadn’t spent much time with Melodie before the show, because I love having a chance for a live show to surprise me. This happens for the next stretch of songs in which they play “Like Me,” “Spill,” “These Days,” and “Yellow and Green.” I wrote down “Yellow and Green” in my notes app, because I really liked it. But, my notes are sparse at this point. I’ve only written down “from Wisconsin,” “let’s keep that celebration going” in reference to the sweeping Midterm election wins, and “beautiful.” I'm not sure how I’m going to review this show at all. The sound was mixed beautifully, though. Paller tells me he mixes Slow Pulp the same way he mixes Geese, which is how we met a little over two years ago at ACL. Ever since, we keep learning that we’ve been at shows without knowing each other for years from Baby’s All Right to Black Midi.
The dynamics of their music keep the live set engaging. Their sound swells into enormous, stadium-sized rock moments before pulling back into quieter passages that put Massey’s vocals front and center. This contrast is especially apparent on “Mud,” which begins with an indie-pop melancholy, then gets punctuated with a guitar riff and drums during the chorus. “Red Car” is another indie-pop song that has become a favorite since the show. Massey also delivered a show-stopping harmonica solo on “Broadview.” The stripped-back guitar and vocals of “Slip Away” were a nice way to mark the show coming
to an end.
After the show, I met the band upstairs in the green room while I waited for Paller to pack up. I rarely, if ever, meet a band cold like this, but they were super welcoming. Massey tells me how their touring guitarist Joe Suihkonen had just dyed his hair Manic Panic Rock ‘N’ Roll Red to match hers. I learned that Alex Leeds, Teddy Mathews, and Henry Stoehr have been playing together since middle school, later meeting Emily in college. The band members are now based between Chicago and Wisconsin. Later on, Leeds tells me that he also did college radio, and we bond over our shared first name: who is Alex, other Alex, just Alex, and the coming of age of people named Alex.
“Man I should’ve gone. Slow Pulp rips,” my cousin DMs me after I posted a 15-second story of “Idaho.” “Next time!” I wrote back, and I really hope it’s soon.
