Concert Review: Slow Hollows Play In Honesty At Bowery Ballroom

Last night, Slow Hollows played Bowery Ballroom, and gave a performance that could spark fan obsession. Lead Singer Austin Feinstein has the same curious appeal that has garnered cult followings for 1975 and LANY, whom have managed to build a fruitful and rising career out of fan love more than radio one. Now more than ever artists have access and a desire to skip radio play and, instead, go straight for the iPod one. The plan is smart, especially in a world where tours are more lucrative. Forgive my analytical “schpleal”, but seeing Slow Hollows opened to me that the door to success is no longer getting your song on the radio as much as getting your band in concert.

Slow Hollows “killed” it at Bowery Ballroom by giving a performance that felt “mad genius” meets “cool kid” meets “outcast”. These three socially defining labels share a common, attractive thread in being terms used for people that “stand out” from the crowd, and Slow Hollows, in a subtle way, “stand out”. When you see the band on stage, they look like sophisticated garage rockers; playing the underground of rock with grace. They approach their instruments with an ease and privacy. I know that “privacy” is not the usual term to describe someone’s style, but they do not play their instruments with intimacy as much as a cool coyness. It is as if they are discovering their goodness and talent with the audience while the concert proceeds, giving viewers a curious, new lens to look at them than with other artists. Instead, Slow Hollows appears so fresh on stage that they bring an aura of “first timers” that is not in the sense of awkwardness as much as awe like, the first moments of a star’s life. You watch them in wonder because they come off like a batch of intelligent rebels, whom are slighted not for their malice but for their lyrical motivation: honesty.

Slow Hollows latest album. Romantic, comes off like tortured dreams, in which sonic-clouds are puffed by inner turmoil. Their rock is introspective and slightly surfy with the pacing of its chords. Their arrangements flow with an easy quickness that represents the rapidity of lyrics that are based in the self-deprecating thoughts or love woes we carry in our mind. Many times, self-loathing is repeated more than self-love or, at least, plays a strong opponent to one’s confidence. Thus, the chords are perfectly paced to show and induce the mental plays their songs touch upon. Moreover, it is in this essence, that the lax nature of Austin Feinstein interplays with the music to further its dissociative nature.

Slow Hollows’ songs focus on the feelings of separation we can all have and, at times, want from the world and ourselves. We have all had instance where we wish we could separate ourselves from “ourselves” and become someone else. Hence, Feinstein has a rather distant singing persona, of which any level of intimacy he draws is between him and the mic. He sings into it as if it carries the only bit of oxygen he receives, to which, as a viewer, you watch to see his personal connection to his music. This causes him to play with the sentiments and freedom one would share when no one is looking, except for music you are producing in reflection. Thus, their concert is a rather atypical experience, even though good.   is why you feel his music rather atypically. While many artists show their love for their music by bonding with the crowd, Feinstein is insular, and, instead, appears like a framed painting; you watch his colored strokes of sound in analysis. For More Information On Slow Hollows Click Here.