Last month, the Manchester-based brother-sister duo SLAP RASH announced their new EP ‘Catherine Special’ which will be released by Open Tab / Fire Talk on 27th October. Today, they’re sharing a new single from the EP, a track called ‘This Note Is Useless’.
Written as a retrospective cry for help and ready-made to be screamed in the face of the person who’s wronged you, the track see-saws through fuzzed out, vigorous baselines and a particularly dynamic vocal performance that showcases their ever-growing reputation as a visceral live act.
On the track, Amelia says:
“This Note Is Useless is a retrospective cry out for help. Things I wish I could’ve said, things I wish I did. This song was written to be screamed in the face of the person who wronged you. It’s me saying you didn’t listen to me then, you silenced me so I couldn’t speak, so here it is. This is what I would’ve said.”
The pair will also be on tour in the UK through October and November with label mates Mandy, Indiana. Full dates below.
Listen to ‘This Note Is Useless’ here
SLAP RASH, the brother-sister duo of Amelia and Huw Lloyd, make music that reverberates from the core of the body. Based in the experimental hub of Manchester (where the pair both relocated for university), since forming in 2019 the band has released a slew of gripping singles that reflect their growing reputation as a visceral live act. New EP Catherine Special was recorded in the Warren Studio in Sheffield and harnesses the band’s unbridled energy alongside threadbare industrial experimentations. The first collection of songs they recorded all together in a session, the tracks exude the pair’s obvious synergy, orchestrating an engrossing soundscape while only incorporating bass, drums and minimal electronics. Huw’s bass playing deftly paints in at least one guitarist, while Amelia then grounds the track with her drums and carries it forward with her vocals.
There’s a sense of deeply physical motion throughout the EP: a unified, cohesive sonic barrage that also leaves room for release. “Palm to palm, embalm / give your body,” Amelia ruminates on “This Note Is Useless,” which see-saws through vigorous baselines and a particularly dynamic vocal performance, while the revved-up scrappiness of opener “Photo Fit” details how people’s depiction of their identities online rarely matches the truth (“loopholes and data”). SLAP RASH are their most compelling given their attention to balancing a punk ethos with carefully employed restraint: one moment in the seconds of silence within “Griefcase,” which reflects on cyclical patterns of past destruction, as well as the oscillating tempo that explodes into noise on “Denial.”
It’s this multidimensional ethos that sets the band apart. Huw is an avid chess player in his spare time, and there’s a masterful ease in which every bit of the EP fits together. Every rhythm feels succinctly placed, and although it’s a world away from the classical viola that Amelia was trained in from a young age, the two’s inherent understanding of how to build a world through noise has already landed them support slots from the likes of Mandy Indiana, Surfbort, Melt Banana and more. The band has found a home in DIY spaces while already sounding larger than life: both disarmingly raw and expressively forceful, Catherine Special marks the debut of a band filled with the ability to claim their place in the world with uttermost intention.
Tour dates
27th October – The White Hotel, Manchester *
28th October – The Hug & Pint, Glasgow *
29th October – Xerox, Newcastle *
31st October – Sidney & Matilda, Sheffield *
1st November – Dareshack, Bristol *
2nd November – The Green Door Store, Brighton *
4th November – Bodega Social, Nottingham *
* w/ Mandy, Last month, the Manchester-based brother-sister duo SLAP RASH announced their new EP ‘Catherine Special’ which will be released by Open Tab / Fire Talk on 27th October. Today, they’re sharing a new single from the EP, a track called ‘This Note Is Useless’.
Written as a retrospective cry for help and ready-made to be screamed in the face of the person who’s wronged you, the track see-saws through fuzzed out, vigorous baselines and a particularly dynamic vocal performance that showcases their ever-growing reputation as a visceral live act.
On the track, Amelia says:
“This Note Is Useless is a retrospective cry out for help. Things I wish I could’ve said, things I wish I did. This song was written to be screamed in the face of the person who wronged you. It’s me saying you didn’t listen to me then, you silenced me so I couldn’t speak, so here it is. This is what I would’ve said.”
The pair will also be on tour in the UK through October and November with label mates Mandy, Indiana. Full dates below.
Listen to ‘This Note Is Useless’ here
SLAP RASH, the brother-sister duo of Amelia and Huw Lloyd, make music that reverberates from the core of the body. Based in the experimental hub of Manchester (where the pair both relocated for university), since forming in 2019 the band has released a slew of gripping singles that reflect their growing reputation as a visceral live act. New EP Catherine Special was recorded in the Warren Studio in Sheffield and harnesses the band’s unbridled energy alongside threadbare industrial experimentations. The first collection of songs they recorded all together in a session, the tracks exude the pair’s obvious synergy, orchestrating an engrossing soundscape while only incorporating bass, drums and minimal electronics. Huw’s bass playing deftly paints in at least one guitarist, while Amelia then grounds the track with her drums and carries it forward with her vocals.
There’s a sense of deeply physical motion throughout the EP: a unified, cohesive sonic barrage that also leaves room for release. “Palm to palm, embalm / give your body,” Amelia ruminates on “This Note Is Useless,” which see-saws through vigorous baselines and a particularly dynamic vocal performance, while the revved-up scrappiness of opener “Photo Fit” details how people’s depiction of their identities online rarely matches the truth (“loopholes and data”). SLAP RASH are their most compelling given their attention to balancing a punk ethos with carefully employed restraint: one moment in the seconds of silence within “Griefcase,” which reflects on cyclical patterns of past destruction, as well as the oscillating tempo that explodes into noise on “Denial.”
It’s this multidimensional ethos that sets the band apart. Huw is an avid chess player in his spare time, and there’s a masterful ease in which every bit of the EP fits together. Every rhythm feels succinctly placed, and although it’s a world away from the classical viola that Amelia was trained in from a young age, the two’s inherent understanding of how to build a world through noise has already landed them support slots from the likes of Mandy Indiana, Surfbort, Melt Banana and more. The band has found a home in DIY spaces while already sounding larger than life: both disarmingly raw and expressively forceful, Catherine Special marks the debut of a band filled with the ability to claim their place in the world with uttermost intention.
Tour dates
27th October – The White Hotel, Manchester *
28th October – The Hug & Pint, Glasgow *
29th October – Xerox, Newcastle *
31st October – Sidney & Matilda, Sheffield *
1st November – Dareshack, Bristol *
2nd November – The Green Door Store, Brighton *
4th November – Bodega Social, Nottingham *
* w/ Mandy, Indiana
Tracklist
1. Photo Fit
2. Denial
3. Griefcase
4. This Note Is Useless
Tracklist
1. Photo Fit
2. Denial
3. Griefcase
4. This Note Is Useless
