Slow Fiction - “Apollo”

SXSW 2024 - OEB Score: 8; Popularity Index: 3

Pairs Well With…Alvvays, U2, Soccer Mommy

I can’t think of another band that has taken a breezy pop/rock base and made it sound this big. Slow Fiction come out of Brooklyn and released this first EP last year, a blast of power-pop songs that sound quite warm given the band’s hook-driven songwriting. There’s a lot of reverb and crunch here too, but not in an effort to distort. Instead those fuzzy tendencies are put behind grand guitar licks and opened-up vocals in a way that draws to classic alt-rock hitmakers. Slow Fiction are right in between tight and loose, not wound up enough to be full pop, but not completely explorative like a psych-rock band. By drawing both sides in equally, Slow Fiction have found themselves an accessible place of rock comfort. Slow Fiction have two showcases booked, Tuesday night at Seven Grand and Thursday at Lefty’s Brick Bar for CLASH Music. (Kevin McStravick)