by emma schoors
Stadiums are awaiting SLATER, and “Boyfriend” is the alluring, anthemic single that may just serve as a stepping stone to their unquantifiable success in years to come.
Released on Jan. 21, “Boyfriend” is built solidly, yet it manages to bend to the emotional will of the individual listener. Intimate admissions like “I just wanted you to hear this come from my mouth” could apply to a number of confessions or truths. The lyrics serve as a pliable story, entirely dependent upon who’s listening and what chord or call to action it strikes within them. Classic, lusty rock n’ roll permeates the single in the form of a guitar solo, which floats above a valiant rhythm section. If drums are the restless heart of this song, guitar is the fluttering of that heart. Stretching through and rising above the harmonic shell like veins are the vocals, which take on a role just complicated enough to cause a seismic shift in the band’s sound.
Speaking of seismic shifts, this single marks a turning point from earlier releases like 2018’s “She’s So Fine” and 2019’s “Dressed In Red At Night.” In some ways SLATER’s sound has been stripped down to its essential core, and in others they’re more complex than ever. The band’s Spotify description paints them vividly as “the lovechild of Led Zeppelin & Catfish and the Bottlemen.” That’s not an unfounded comparison in the slightest. “Rest on me, honey, that’s alright,” the latter group’s Van McCann sings in “Cocoon,” while “Boyfriend” flaunts, “Baby, I don’t mind / You can come and waste my time if you want to.” This clumsy, youthful, head-over-heels kind of love collides with the steel force of Zeppelin’s rhythm section, like in “Rock And Roll,” and it’s easy to see how SLATER has found itself sandwiched between the two artists sonically. Still, there exists in “Boyfriend” a separate element that cannot be assigned to any other artist, because it presents itself differently in every band. That element is passion. Required in the production of every song is an ounce of genuine devotion to the project, and SLATER has cracked whatever canister passion lives in and poured it all over everything they’ve released so far.
There’s no need to pull back a curtain of flawlessness when it comes to “Boyfriend.” SLATER stands undaunted within the bounds of reality, everyday situations, and imperfect people, and that is perhaps where the bulk of their grit and guts lie. Creating new worlds through lyric is effective, but SLATER has proved that making sense of this world through lyric can be miles more poignant.
