Paradise

<i>Paradise</i> is a fantastic step in Slow Club's evolution, delivering songs that resonate with thunderous rhythms, dirty guitar, and a sprinkling of harp and keyboards, which are neatly coiled between echoing, empty-room numbers that simmer with heartache. The English duo pumps up its folky tendencies with grand choruses (Rebecca Taylor’s voice is a sly and powerful instrument) and thick layers of reverb and dissonance, while imbuing its quieter side with impressive depth and sophistication. “Two Cousins” is a gorgeous, waltzing song that blooms like a flower bud on time-lapse film, all riotous color and youthful dewiness. Besides pop gems that shine with both dark and bright brilliance (“Beginners”, “If We’re Still Alive”), the boisterous track “The Dog” delivers real surprise, with Charles Watson’s barbed guitar fluttering against a distorted background wash, his warbling voice lifted to new heights as it races in urgent harmony with Taylor’s. She carries most of the vocal duties this time around. On a handful of songs—like the beautifully gloomy “You Earth or Ash” and the bluesy “Never Looks Back”—she has all the maturity and mystique of Everything but the Girl's Tracey Thorn.