EP Review: Slow Joy - 'Mi Amigo Slow Joy'
Chicano-heavy soloist of Slow Joy releases second grunge-gazed EP.
What first was a passion project in the midst of lockdown frenzy, has now turned into a fully-fledged career for the man behind Slow Joy.
Headed up by Dallas-based Chicano-artist of Esteban Flores, his moniker idea first gained momentum when his 2022 single of Crawling amassed millions of views of TikTok, resulting in a rich blossoming of listeners to his soaring space-rock pearls, as he began blitzing out tracks at record speeds. As Crawling eagerly sidled in to his first collection of songs on Soft Slam, Flores knew there was greater potential here.
An assertive nod to his heritage as a Mexican-American, aptly titled Mi Amigo Slow Joy will be the second EP for Flores - as it follows 2023’s Wildflower, which featured the yearning scope of 2023's first taste of Crawl II and the distorted drawls of Pressure. The first monologue of Wildflower was more dark, more pent-up in nature - almost like it held a far shorter fuse to an inevitable explosion.
This time around, the passion and heart that Flores pours into Slow Joy arguably shines even brighter on his second time around here, as it projects a more lighter side to Flores' songwriting capabilities. With a new space at New Jersey's Barbership Studios that undoubtedly opened up new avenues for experimentation, Flores was really cooking. New heady single Pulling Teeth is testament to that. A rousing Pixies-like offload with towering chorus, it is a remorseful telling to his wife; ultimately appreciative in her putting up with him. King Cowboy is another adrenaline-packed slice of alternative emo; forever the yearning guitar threadings and Flores' eased vocal delivery.
4U and Lay me out, I'm out of myind completes the four-track roster; boasting a more general complexion of simmering mixes and poppier moments, rifled with emotion. The EP is post-alternative melt-in-the-floor noisy expression of Flores himself as an individual, and as an artist..
Words by Alex Curle
