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The Slow Readers Club

Manchester-based electro/indie quartet Slow Readers Club make guitar-centric pop music with a dark, dramatic edge. The first iteration of the band, Omerta, formed in 2003. They signed to Northern Ambition two years later but suddenly disappeared in 2007. Four years passed before vocalist Aaron Starkie resurrected the group, changing their name to Slow Readers Club in the process. In 2011, they self-released their eponymous debut album amid ongoing changes to the line-up. In 2013 they had settled on Aaron Starkie (vocals), Kurtis Starkie (guitar), Jim Ryan (bass), and David Whitworth (drums). In 2014 they were the first band asked to play at Manchester Central Library. Given that the name of the venue couldn't be more apt, the band filmed and recorded the gig, releasing it as a live album, Slow Readers Club: Live at the Library, later the same year. In 2015 they released their sophomore full-length, Cavalcade; upon hearing the record, a member of Mancunian band James invited the group to support them on their Girl at the End of the World tour. In the three years that followed, Slow Readers Club focused on live shows and festivals, slowly building up a fan base in the rest of the U.K. By 2018, they had signed to Modern Sky -- their first label since re-forming -- to release their third studio album, Build a Tower. The record was their first to chart, hitting the Top 20 in the U.K. and sharing a release day with the concert document Live from Festival No. 6. September brought For All Here to Observe, an EP featuring acoustic renditions of key tracks from their canon. In 2019, the band carried out extensive tours of the U.K. and Europe, releasing a double album -- Live at O2 Apollo Manchester -- that September. The following month's two dates at the Manchester Ritz marked the band's last large hometown shows for more than three years. Although the COVID-19 pandemic curbed their live activity, 2020 saw Slow Readers Club release two studio albums. Recorded at Parr St. in Liverpool, March's The Joy of the Return was their most successful to date, hitting the U.K. Top Ten, but it was their last for Modern Sky. The concise and brooding 91 Days in Isolation was self-released that October, and still managed to crack the Top 40. Songs from both records were finally given live airings on U.K. headline tours in both 2021 and 2022, as well as on a run of dates supporting the Pixies. After signing with Manchester's Velveteen Records, their next two singles -- November 2022's "Knowledge Freedom Power" and January 2023's "Modernise" -- betrayed an increased electronic influence. Both appeared on their sixth album, which took its name from the former single and appeared in February.
© Liam Martin & James Wilkinson /TiVo

Discography

74 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller

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