Slung – In Ways | Album Review

On LP one, Slung show off a maturity beyond their years to create a complex release chock full of smoky guitar, booming choruses and self-empowerment.

Slung are a young band. Whilst they’ve been touring heavily, they only released their first music officially late last year, so to all intents and purposes are still veritable newcomers to the scene. The problem with all this is that you might then have certain expectations from their debut – whether you like it or not, we tend to, as a scene, think of debuts as quite raw, slightly rough around the edges affairs, that can well have gems aplenty but aren’t the finished product. All is not as it seems with Slung though, as their debut In Ways is as accomplished a release as any fifth album, with the production, maturity, and measuredness to match.

Across the release, they work their way through a couple of core sounds, from the higher tempo, energetic one-two punch intro of ‘Laughter’ and ‘Class A Cherry’, to the mixed bag of melancholy and moodiness on finishers ‘Nothing Left’ and ‘Falling Down’, by way of a more sombre middle that touches on more classic balladic rock, with a nice relaxed tempo to keep the lower mood comfortable.

Aforementioned ‘Class A Cherry’ is one of the most notable tracks here, especially for its lyrical content. The song is, as you may well be able to guess, a sexual song, but it deals with this topic in a way that’s often left unbroached. Taking the perspective of a sex worker with a client, the lyrics that Katie Oldham belts out are provocative and sensual but with a power and will behind them that we often don’t hear, which offers a refreshing take on an otherwise tried-and-tested subject.

Meanwhile, the final two tracks are treading a very different path. From lust to loss, we reach a very painful part of the album. Both ‘Nothing Left’ and ‘Falling Down’ are about the breakup of Katie’s ten year long relationship, which naturally caused her immense pain and strife, and connects on a very fundamental level over just how difficult losing someone in that way can be. As much as love is a very powerful thing positively, Slung are demonstrating here the huge potential for sadness and pain it can hold.

These aren’t the only areas covered by this release though, as this LP covers an array of them. The track ‘Matador’ for example discusses the fates that can befall the titular men, who engage in the controversial and traditional sport of bullfighting, whilst the high-octane opener ‘Laughter’ discusses how difficult familial relationships can be, and the confrontations that can come along with those, as well as the effects of having emotionally absent parents. All this serves to show a band with a plethora of lived experience, a deep deep well of inspiration, and a need to be both vulnerable and real.

In Ways comes across as so much more than a debut album. From it’s highest highs to its lowest lows, it moves seamlessly between myriad complex and tough-to-tackle topics with ease, all while keeping a consistent sound that still varies enough to keep it interesting. This is absolutely no mean feat, and Slung should be proud of the polished professionalism that they’ve provided on an excellent debut LP.