Acclaimed Americana Band I Draw Slow Release Self-Titled Album via Compass Records
DUBLIN-BASED AMERICANA BAND
I DRAW SLOW
RELEASE NEW SELF-TITLED, 10-TRACK ALBUM
OUT TODAY VIA COMPASS RECORDS
US TOUR DATES THROUGH THE FALL
Above: I DRAW SLOW album artwork
NASHVILLE, TN (September 9, 2022) — No band has more successfully bridged the gap between Dublin and Nashville than Americana band I Draw Slow. Sitting squarely at the crossroads of Irish and Appalachian music, this Dublin-based group — fronted by brother/sister songwriting team Dave Holden (guitar/vocals) and Louise Holden (vocals) — releases their new deeply personal self-titled album, I DRAW SLOW. Out today via Compass Records, the 10-track album is available digitally across all DSPs and digital download as well as physical CD. Stream/purchase I DRAW SLOW, here.
Americana UK gave early praise to the record saying, “I Draw Slow have created a sound that is very much their own, carrying you away, in equal measure, to the Appalachian woods and Dublin hills, with the odd detour on route to New Orleans or California. It all works to create a body of work that is pleasingly hard to place, both in time and in any single cultural home. The result is music with a welcoming freshness and variety.”
Earlier this week, I Draw Slow highlighted the track “About A Bird In An Airport Terminal” with an intimate performance video shared with fans on September 6. Watch the video here.
The album’s lead single, “Copenhagen Interpretation,” — spotlighted by Folk Alley — was penned about bringing words back down to earth. The song, released Friday, August 12, found its inspiration from the George Orwell quote: “Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” Guided by subtle banjo picking, the song floats on an early ‘70s soundscape.
Taking influence from Fleetwood Mac’s TUSK, combined with the vocal echoes of The Mamas & The Papas, the band’s second single from the record, “Bring Out Your Dead” (released August 26), gives an Irish flair to the ‘70s influences carried throughout the album. The defining symbol of the song is the house — drawing inspiration from Samuel Beckett, the group explains: “If the house is a body, a person can wander from room to room and become trapped, revisiting old hurts, old pathways back to pain. Getting in from the outside takes a lot of persistence and a lot of love.” “Bring Out Your Dead” has a hypnotic melody leaving you with a longing for more.
Like most artists during the pandemic, the group was forced to put their tour career on hold in the spring of 2020. Independently they suffered the loss of loved ones to COVID and weathered the subsequent months of grief. When the band was finally able to reunite in 2021 in a farmyard studio in the Dublin mountains to record their new album they found themselves and their music fundamentally changed. The traditional Irish and Appalachian influences that informed I Draw Slow’s prior releases were augmented by a much wider range of influences, including sixties pop, cinematic soundscapes and the funereal jazz of New Orleans.
Lyrically, the new tracks pulled storytelling and tradition apart. “The new music represents tradition in the mixed up way that people live now,” Louise shares, “With the stories we tell to stop ourselves from going crazy and the false memories we build ourselves upon.”
Ultimately, the trauma of the pandemic is what defines the band's eponymously titled new album. Together with bandmates, Konrad Liddy (upright bass), Colin Derham (banjo), and Adrian Hart (fiddle), Louise and Dave Holden explore a broader, and darker, musical palette on the new tracks, yielding unexpected and musically satisfying results. I DRAW SLOW captures a pivotal moment in a shared human tragedy and offers a stunning portrait of the beauty that I Draw Slow salvaged from their collective pain.
With the release of their new album, I Draw Slow further cements their reputation as one of the most interesting groups on the Americana/roots scene. Coaxing the past into the present, they have created a very personal sonic tapestry that has drawn fans on both sides of the pond and earned them slots on some of the most important festival stages across North America including MerleFest, Edmonton Folk Festival, RockyGrass and WinterGrass. With the expansive musical platform of their newest release as a launching point, the possibilities for where I Draw Slow’s musical journey will take them next is limitless.
Tracklisting for I DRAW SLOW:
“Bring Out Your Dead”
“Copenhagen Interpretation”
“About A Bird In An Airport Terminal”
“Dearly”
“Dublin Bay, Christmas Day”
“Crosses”
“Trouble”
“Queen Of The Wasteland”
“A chuid den tsaol”
“Leisureplex”
Above: I Draw Slow; credit: Cormac Figgis
L to R: Colin Derham, Louise Holden, Dave Holden, Konrad Liddy, Adrian Hart