Hello Tomorrow, a two-day showcase of up-and-coming artists, brings the quartet Slate from the Welsh capital, Cardiff, to Zurich. And what a sound it is hailing over the channel.
The band released their first singles, Tabernacl and St Agatha, in 2023—fast-paced and clearly post-punk-inspired tracks with a hint of wave melancholia.
Last spring, Slate released their debut EP, Deathless, demonstrating a vastly more complex sound than the first singles indicated. A wild, bold, despairing, and daring array of songs like the long-winding Remoter Heaven explores post-punk beyond the traditional format, roaming into Britpop and indulging in monumental instrumentals.
Remoter Heaven sounds like the crossover of Joy Division and The Doors I never knew I wanted.
James Auton concluded in his review for Cardiff-based magazine God Is In The TV: „Slate feel like a band that are doing this because they have to not because they want to. Like this is their calling.“
Auton also saw Slate live already, reviewing their gig at the Focus Wales festival last year:
Slate are fantastically intense. Singer Jack is a captivating frontman, he contorts and twists as he sneers into the mic, leaning into the crowd as the band hammer out thunderous bass and cutting, angular guitar lines, underpinned by tight and concise drums.
I’d say Auton’s verdicts are highly convincing arguments to check out Slate’s first gig in Switzerland at Hello Tomorrow. Get your ticket here.
