Manchester-based indie electro/doom pop band The Slow Readers Club have announced the release of their sixth studio album ‘Knowledge Freedom Power‘. The band launch the album by sharing its lead single and title track.
The follow-up to their 2020’s album The Joy Of The Return, was produced by Joe Cross (Hurts/Courteeners) and according to the press release is “a sizzling synth-rock beast of a record akin to White Lies, Muse and modern-day Bloc Party, and a rallying cry of emancipation, both stylistically and socially.”
Talking about the themes on the new record, frontman Aaron Starkie says:
“The world had got so bleak it felt a little indulgent to paint apocalyptic pictures when they were out in the real world. I thought people would probably want to hear more uplifting things, it was my intention to be a bit more positive. There’s still a lot of melodrama in there and it’s still dystopian in places but there’s more positive shades in this record.”
That positivity powers to the fore with the album’s lead single and title track, an instantly addictive hybrid of the band’s new pulsating synth style with their anthemic alt – rock roots. Its streamlined, straight – to – the – point hook highlights the fact that there can be an alternative to a world which is becoming increasingly authoritarian and ignoring the needs of the many in favour of the few.
Aaron adds:
“Growing up as a council estate kid in Manchester I was very conscious of having a limited horizon and I guess I had a chip on my shoulder and something to prove. It’s that background that inspired both our band name and the album’s title track ‘Knowledge Freedom Power’. It is an exercise in positive sloganeering, a mantra for education as a means of a way out from social and psychological confinement.”
‘Knowledge Freedom Power‘ will be out on February 23 via Modern Sky UK. Pre-order your copy here.
Check out the album’s tracklist and watch the video for the title track below.
Knowledge Freedom Power Tracklist:
- Modernise
- Afterlife
- Sacred Song
- Lay Your Troubles On Me
- How Could You Know?
- Knowledge Freedom Power
- What Might Have Been
- Seconds Out
- Forget About Me
- No You
