Slowcore

Slowcore
Other names	Sadcore
Stylistic origins	Indie rock alternative rock
Cultural origins	1990s, United States
Other topics
Ambient Americana dream pop folk post-rock

Slowcore, also known as sadcore, is a subgenre of indie rock and alternative rock characterised by slow tempos, minimalist and atmospheric instrumentation, and subdued and emotional lyrical performances.

While the genre's history is rooted in bands from the 1980s that formed to rebel against aggressive mainstream genres like grunge, it was not until the 1990s that it became a known phrase. By the mid '90s, slowcore had been established as one of the era's microgenres, supported primarily by the Duluth-based band Low. Low was not the first band to produce slowcore; Codeine, Red House Painters, and Bedhead all released music earlier in the decade, and American Music Club preceded them by a decade. Regardless, the soft and slow sound of their debut, I Could Live in Hope (1994), and their albums that followed over the next several years, came to define slowcore. Spain, Arab Strap, and Ida, among others, all followed Low and furthered the reach of the genre, and by the 2000s, slowcore had a clear sound, even if it lacked obvious categorisation. Bands like Carissa's Wierd, Songs: Ohia, and Duster incorporated its archetypical sound in their music throughout the introductory years of the 21st century, while others, including Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions, Grouper, and Sun Kil Moon experimented and deviated while staying within the genre's confines. Since then, several other musicians and bands have been described as slowcore by critics.

The term "slowcore" derives from "slow", referring to the tempo and energy of the music, and "-core", which refers to a scene, style, or musical subgenre. Sadcore is similar. The term itself has an unclear origin, though sources suggest "slowcore"'s use started in the early 1990s. Scholars and bands alike have shown ambivalence towards the name, with some calling it pejorative.

Characteristics

Slowcore is considered a subgenre of indie rock, alternative rock, and pop. There is no definitive characterisation of the genre, however it is typically defined by slow tempos with a sombre and atmospheric approach to songwriting and composition. Slowcore artists often take influence from related genres, including dream pop, post-rock, folk, and americana. Drone and ambient music are also cited as being similar. Less frequently, slowcore songs borrow elements from other genres, including shoegaze and midwest emo.

Backing instrumentation is sparse, which contrasted with the genres it was derived from. Slowcore uses simple melodies over a prolonged period to invoke saddened emotions; Andrea Swensson of Pitchfork wrote that the genre "gently pulls [the listener] out of linear time". While the songs can implement choruses, they often lack intense changes in instrumentation. Chris Brokaw of Codeine facetiously stated that he could "play a snare hit, go get a drink and be back at the drumkit before the next beat". Stuart Braithwaite, a founding member of the renowned post-rock band Mogwai, said "You weren't going to play [slowcore] at parties, but it was beautiful: the lyrics bare and honest, the musicality sparing".

Lyrics within slowcore are often melancholic, with the vocal performances subdued. For example, Swedish singer Stina Nordenstam has been described as slowcore because of "her sadly beautiful little-girl whisper" style of singing. Emotion is a core component of slowcore, and the sparse instrumentation is used to emphasise the singer's voice. In 1998, SF Weekly wrote that "The best thing about slowcore [...] is that they demand the listener pay attention. The worst thing about them is that sometimes you fall asleep by the third song".

Sadcore

Slowcore is occasionally referred to as "sadcore", and many journalists and scholars consider them to be synonymous labels for the same genre. Regardless, when they are distinguished, the differences are attributed to a heightened melancholy in the lyrics of sadcore songs.

The sadcore categorisation saw considerable use in the early 2000s. Mentions include The Washington Post calling Mark Eitzel, the lead singer of American Music Club, the "reluctant king of sadcore" in 2002 and LA Weekly calling Charlyn Marshall (stage name Cat Power) the "Queen of Sadcore" in 2003. Reviewers also used it in passing for albums such as Red House Painters' Rollercoaster (1993), Shearwater's Everybody Makes Mistakes (2002), and Low's box set A Lifetime of Temporary Relief (2004). Since then, Lana Del Rey self-described her music as "Hollywood sadcore" in an interview with Vogue in 2011. Phoebe Bridgers's music has also been called sadcore, a descriptor she dislikes: speaking to The New Zealand Herald in 2023, she said "I hate the 'sad girl' label".

Etymology

Within music, the suffix "-core" infers a scene or style, originating with "hardcore". The American Dialect Society describes it more generally as a "productive suffix for aesthetic trends". "Slow" refers to the pace of the music. For "sadcore", the same applies, except "sad" refers to the emotion of the lyrics.

There is no definitive origin of the label "slowcore" outside of the agreement between scholars that its use began in the 1990s. The first instance of "slowcore" cited in the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1991: Chuck Eddy's book Stairway to Hell: The 500 Best Heavy Metal Albums in the Universe. Another claim to the origin of the term is from Alan Sparhawk of the band Low. In an interview with The Paper Crane podcast, Sparhawk said his friend had coined the term "slowcore" as a joke and that he had humorously mentioned it in one of his band's earliest shows (c. 1993). He said that after he used it in an interview, the popularity of the phrase increased, as did Low's media attention.

Reception

The "slowcore" label has been criticised by scholars and bands, who have called it pejorative. Matt Kadane of Bedhead called it an "insult" and Jim Putnam of Radar Bros. resisted the term and continuously told music critics that his band was "not slowcore". Similarly, members of Low, a band often considered monumental in the growth of the genre, disliked the label: in 1998, Sparhawk called it "cheesy". Regardless, the term grew in popularity and in an interview with Vice in 2018, Sparhawk recognised his band as being influential in slowcore's growth and success.

History

Late 1980s: Stylistic origins

The sound that would become known as "slowcore" began emerging in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a counterpoint to the rapid growth of louder rock genres like grunge. Unlike these genres, the early years of slowcore did not have a defined scene or any geographic hotspots. American Music Club are considered an early slowcore band. Releasing their debut The Restless Stranger in 1985, the band's music was slow and with characteristics akin to genres like folk and singer-songwriter. This style was echoed by other bands at the time, such as the Canadian Cowboy Junkies, who were creating minimalist country and blues, and would come to define aspects of slowcore.

Within the same period of time, Galaxie 500 formed and began releasing dream pop albums. Their sophomore album, On Fire (1989), strongly influenced the genre, as did the rest of their discography, although their dream pop style was not entirely indicative of how slowcore would develop. Regardless, On Fire would become the "blueprint for the minimalist construction of slowcore itself". Because of this, the band is frequently cited as one of slowcore's leading antecedents. Andrew Earles, in his 2014 book Gimme Indie Rock: 500 Essential American Underground Rock Albums 1981-1996, described them as slowcore's "progenitor". Robert Rubsam, writing for Bandcamp Daily, called Galaxie 500 the "fountainhead for all that would come".

There were other early bands that formed in the 1980s that would help define slowcore, however many would not release anything until the 1990s. These include Codeine, Red House Painters, and Mazzy Star.

1990s: Peak growth and evolution

While many of the bands that would influence the concept of slowcore existed before the 1990s, this decade is often cited as being when the genre began, as well as being its heyday. Throughout this period, the amount of bands and albums associated with the genre grew greatly, establishing its core sound and style.

In these early years, the genre was defined by bands that had a style of minimalist and prolonged instrumentation with melancholic vocal performances. Codeine, having formed in 1989, released Frigid Stars LP in 1990, which incorporated "tortured lyrics and tired vocal melodies". Codeine's music received attention over the following years, and after the release of the Barely Real extended play in 1992, the Toronto Star described it as being a "unique 'slowcore' sound". By The White Birch, their 1994 sophomore and ultimate album, Codeine had cemented themselves as a prominent band within the scene. Two years after Codeine's debut, Red House Painters, having formed in 1988, released their debut: Down Colorful Hill (1992). Similar to other bands on the 4AD label, this album consisted of a select handful of demos that had been polished before their official release. The album is bleak in both lyrics and composition; Down Colorful Hill, alongside their following albums Rollercoaster (1993) and Bridge (1993), have been described as instilling feelings of "desperation, regret, and general darkness". Earles contended that Red House Painters was the saddest band within slowcore in the early 1990s.

Another early band was Bedhead, which formed in 1991 and released their debut WhatFunLifeWas in 1994. This album consisted of soft vocals and dynamic instrumentation, and the band would release two further studio albums, Beheaded (1996) and Transaction de Novo (1998), which maintained the same slow sound as their debut but deviated in technique. After this, the band disbanded and fell out of public discourse. A year after Bedhead's formation, Idaho, another prominent band in these preliminary years, formed, and began releasing music in 1993 after signing with Caroline Records. Like Bedhead, they continued to release slowcore albums throughout the decade—their debut being Year After Year (1993); however, Idaho persisted into the next century.

1994-1999: Refinement of an archetypical sound

The mid '90s were an experimental period in music throughout North America and Europe, with new microgenres rapidly appearing. Other bands, such as Acetone, Slint, and Swans were producing slow songs that, on the outset, appeared to relate to slowcore but were better categorised under these other emerging genres. These elements resulted in slowcore being an unclearly defined and confusing genre.

Low, hailing from Duluth, Minnesota, would ultimately create the genre's archetypical sound. Formed in 1993 by Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker, the band started by experimenting with slow and quiet rock music and in December of 1994, released their debut album I Could Live in Hope. This album was different from its predecessors: while it maintained stylistic similarities with other bands' sparse instrumentation, it was more difficult to categorise into the other associated genres, like post-rock or dream pop. Due to this unique sound, Low are heralded as pioneers of the genre. Low would continue to release slowcore albums throughout the rest of the decade and the early 2000s, after which they deviated towards other genres.

Following Low, several bands emerged. Among them was Ida, composed of Elizabeth Mitchell and Daniel Littleton, who released their debut, Tales of Brave Ida in 1994. This was followed by I Know About You in 1996, which is considered a slowcore "classic". Ida continued to release music throughout the '90s and into the late 2000s, with Heart Like a River from 2005 also often highlighted as an exemplary slowcore album. Bluetile Lounge, an Australian band, released their debut (Lowercase) a year after Ida's debut, in 1995. Also in 1995, Spain and Cat Power released their debut albums: The Blue Moods of Spain and Dear Sir, respectively. The For Carnation released their debut EP, Fight Songs the same year. Two years later, Radar Bros.'s self-titled debut album was released. These latter five bands were mentioned by Stevie Chick as examples of the way slowcore evolved after Low in an article for The Guardian. She writes, in respect of the first three: "the genre grew to encompass the blue lullabies of Spain; the hypnotic intimacy of the For Carnation [...]; [and] the whispered confessions of early Cat Power". She also cites Rex, which included Codeine's Doug Scharin, as another influential band. By the years surrounding 1996, "slowcore" was no longer solely an esoteric phrase; an article in The Sydney Morning Herald in May 1996 jested that Spain, among others, were playing a sort of music that "new-trend-every-week folk are calling slowcore".

Arab Strap is another band of note from 1996.

Towards the end of the decade, Duster released Stratosphere (1998). By this point, they had already released a few EPs but had failed to garner a notable reputation. The album was reviewed by Pitchfork and other zines, and the band would release one final album, Contemporary Movement (2000), before disbanding until 2018. Despite this, the band would ultimately become one of the most influential within the genre.

2000s–present: Continued expansion

Through the success of several bands in the mid-to-late 1990s, the slowcore sound had been conceptually established by the commencement of the 2000s. However, the genre continued to grow with releases from both existing and new artists. This era also saw bands experiment by amalgamating the slowcore sound with other genres.

In 2000, Carissa's Wierd released Ugly But Honest: 1996-1999, which was followed a year later by You Should Be at Home Here. These albums were then succeeded in 2002 by Songs About Leaving, the bands final album. This lattermost release was their most notable with respect to slowcore. Despite this, Carissa's Wierd remained obscure throughout its existence—forming in 1995 and disbanding in 2003.

An example of bands combining genres is Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions, which formed in 2001 and comprised Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star and Colm Ó Cíosóig of My Bloody Valentine. In their formation year, they released Bavarian Fruit Bread, which helped repopularise a more dream pop-inspired style of slowcore reminiscent of Galaxie 500. This dream pop sound was revisited in 2012 by Cigarettes After Sex's single "Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby". The song, a dream pop and slowcore ballad, would go relatively unnoticed until it went viral in 2016. Following this, the band released their self-titled debut album in 2017, described by Pitchfork as a "slowcore collection [that] borders on ambient". Similar to Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions, several Red House Painters members formed Sun Kil Moon in 2002. Early on, pundits noted that this band departed from the slowcore sound present in Red House Painters releases to instead opt for folk-inspired song construction. Despite this, others continued to find similarities between Sun Kil Moon's music and slowcore: a 2009 article in The Sunday Times listed April (2008) as an essential slowcore record.

Dan Barrett, a member of the post-punk band Have a Nice Life, released a self-titled album under the name Giles Corey in 2011. Giles Corey was emotive both lyrically and musically, with the production purposefully being low fidelity. Rosean noted that this was predictive of how slowcore would progress in the 21st century: departing somewhat from the essential simplicity in musical composition to instead place additional emphasis on emotional vulnerability. Rosean cited I'm Not As Good at It As You (2010) by S, formerly of Carissa's Wierd, as another example of this. He writes: S "[emphasises] harmony and melodic release over repetition while still maintaining [slowcore's] minimalistic style".

Slowcore began to increase in popularity towards the end of the 2010s and into the early 2020s, partly through social media trends. Songs like Duster's "Constellations" (from Stratosphere) have been used as the backing track in viral videos to heighten the emotion. Though this growth, the genre persisted into the 2020s with albums from both existing and new bands receiving attention. In 2022, the London-based band Deathcrash released their debut album Return, followed a year later by Less. Additionally, songs by singer-songwriters have been labeled as slowcore by reviewers, including those of Nicole Dollanganger, Ethel Cain, Daughter, and Snail Mail. Robert Rubsam listed Planning for Burial, Grouper, Kowloon Walled City, and Worm Ouroboros as examples of "post-slow" bands in his timeline of slowcore.

Notes and citations