Album Review: Sham Laws by Slow Science

When Slow Science were announced for Manchester Punk Festival it came as quite the surprise. The four-piece split up in 2014 and I hadn’t ever heard of any rumblings of a reunion. I was pleased to see them returning, as I only ever got into them after catching them at their final show at Urban Bar in Whitechapel. To go along with their MPF appearance they had another surprise. A brand spanking new two track EP titled Sham Laws! This pleased me greatly and I couldn’t wait to check it out.

I’ve realised as I’ve written this that there might be a few folk who are unaware of Slow Science’s sound. I think the best way of describing them is as anthemic, melodic pop punk with dual vocals and beautiful harmonies. There’s also a healthy dose of gang vocals. All the good stuff.

The first track is named Cold Smoke. Now, whenever I usually see that a song is five and a half minutes long I groan. That’s a long length for a song, especially for someone with my attention span. I absolutely loved this song though. It’s a real lesson in making songs long but also keeping them interesting. There’s loads going on but it doesn’t feel congested. It’s also not super repetitive. Cold Smoke starts out in a punchy fashion with Jon taking the lead before the track switches to a more melodic style and Stacey takes over. I love this. The pair switch multiple times throughout the song and combine on the huge chorus. The gang vocals accompanied by some delicious harmonies during the final moments of the song are an absolute thing of beauty that needs to be heard to be believed.

What We Are is the second track on Sham Laws. What a journey this song is! Once again there is a lot going on but once again it all works perfectly. It starts with a dreamy fuzzy guitar riff that all your emo heroes of the past would be jealous of before Jon’s vocals come in as well as some gang harmonies trading lines. A great way to start the song. The chorus has a familiarity to it that sends me back twenty years but doesn’t feel like something they’ve rehashed. What We Are also has plenty of moments where the band can show off their musicianship with some slick solos scattered throughout the song. The ending of the track also shows off a different side of Slow Science as they strip things back and have some huge gang vocals to get things finished, as the band yell “turn to what we are, not what you became” repetitively and the song fades out.

This is one of those times where the level of musicianship and songwriting is so high, I really struggle to review and eloquently describe just how brilliant it is. Basically, don’t take my word for it, go check it out for yourself and you will be as awestruck as I am by it. New material suggests that Slow Science’s appearance at MPF wasn’t a one-time thing and I hope they find their way back down to London pronto.

Stream and download Sham Laws on Bandcamp here.

Like Slow Science on Facebook here.

This review was written by Colin Clark.