From his noisy rap and grime roots to the present day, we’ve seen a lot of twists and turns in the slowthai journey. For his next album, UGLY, it seems the Northampton native is digging deeper into the punk abrasiveness that’s always informed his music.
The first track to be heard from the new LP—which follows 2021’s TYRON and is slated to land March 3 via Method Records—is “Selfish” and it pushes brash punk vocals and caustic distorted guitars right into the spotlight. Long-time friend and collaborator Kwes Darko is still at the helm as producer, so there are still plenty of recognisable elements, but this track at least feels like a major departure for the moshpit-maestro.
According to the press release that arrived with “Selfish”, UGLY promises to be slowthai’s most personal yet. He’s always been a chaotic figure and it sounds as if this album will be his way of coming to terms with and re-evaluating himself, his anxieties, and how he sees himself.
“The first album was the sound of where I’m from and everything I thought I knew,” he says. “The second album is what was relevant to me at that moment in time, the present. And this album is completely me—about how I feel and what I want to be… It’s everything I’ve been leading up to.”
