- As a neo-soul group with a female lead vocalist in 2019 it’s hard to escape the influence of two huge records from the past few years. First is The Internet’s Ego Death, a gritty and spacey album from the LA-based, Odd Future-related group, jam-packed with machismo and smoothness led by, Syd The Kyd. Second is Melbourne’s Hiatus Kaiyote with Choose Your Weapon, part neo-soul choose-your-own-adventure, part beat-tape, also lead by a fearsome female, Nai Palm.
These two mammoth albums collected the most influential sounds in modern soul, rnb, instrumental hiphop and nu-disco and took them a step further; leaving the world running to keep up. Demon Days make no effort to obscure their influences and on Taking It Slow This Time bring an earnest love and palpable talent at their craft, to their songs. Last year's Magic Eye was an impressive introduction and the Perth quintet look to expand their sound here.
The opening and title track, begins with a quasi-spiritual drone that quickly breaks into a statement of intent. A sharp groove propels singer Bella Nichols to ruminate on the EP creation process, singing “So much to do gets me overwhelmed / Distractions hold me down can't seem to escape / Just need a break from this time constraint”. It's a fun and funky track that easily moves between ambience beats and driving funk-soul, with practical advice about dealing with the stress of working on your art.
This leads us into Gravel. Opening with SAMIYAM synths we move into a warped and warbling groove with ample space between beats. The chorus employs reverse reverb and a clever groove switch to keep things unsettled amongst the funk. It’s languid liquid funkiness in the verse and choppy horn soul in the hook before moving into space-funk outro, with a solo from keyboardist Josh Chan.
Hands - Free wastes no time in jumping to the punch. Disco piano chords support a funky bass and drums laying the bed for Nichols. She tells the story of a male friend who seems to have been burnt by a lover and the hard-time he has reconciling that. The song finds the perfect balance between cosmic vocal effects and driving grooves to feel energetic and open, bouncing along a classic disco melancholia. The second verse swaps piano for bubbling arps and its chorus leads into another beat switch and outro. It might be my prediliction for disco coming through but this seems like the strongest track of the release and certainly the one that grabbed me first; it's reminiscent of the Anderson .Paak, Schoolboy Q featuring house jam Am I Wrong. The beats are tight and the bass lines from Marley Donnan-Cook find just the right amount of snap and bite to keep the track hot stepping forward.
Hot Minute layers snapping drums and fuzzed out bass to a staccato horn and keys line with vocals notably absent. Trash Talk brings Dilla-drums into the mix for the most hiphop track of the release, so it's only appropriate that we have a rap verse mid-track. Closing track Plum is as close to a soul-ballad as Demon Days are likely to veer, and expands into a rather moving piece with Eleanor Rigby-esque strings playing a film-score outro lament. Bella’s voice sounds as comfortable here as anywhere else on the record.
As a whole, Taking It Slowly This Time feels like a strong collection of songs and ideas, but not a complete work, more a beat tape than the album as statement. The band is tighter and more polished than on Magic Eye, but they’ve lost a little fizz and pop that made songs like Daria’s Smile and Disco Baby jump out the speakers, sweaty and slightly manic. I’m grateful to have these new songs to bop to but I also already looking forward to a Disco Baby pt. 2. It feels harsh to fault a record for doing what it says on the box, but when it's soul, you've got to say what you feel.
- Will Tom.