A visual artist and painter as well as an unconventional, self-taught songwriter and musician, everything that fuels the creative output of Manchester’s Xenya Genovese, AKA Freak Slug, is about raw, authentic, sometimes weird but always totally true self-expression. She’s not one to sugar coat things; “I’m a lot, so it’s a lot to show who I am because some people might not like it,” she accepts. But in amongst the mix of an introverted extrovert, self- described “avoidant” Leo rising, lives the sort of musician who can do nostalgic, ‘90s- influenced and dreamy as well as eccentric and experimental. Down there, picking through the curious mix of sounds and feelings, lives Freak Slug.

Having moved from Manchester to London to study Fine Art at university, Genovese thought her path was already set. “I’ve been doing art since I was young. It’s been quite a surprise for me, doing this whole music thing…” she says. In some ways, the pivot to musician did sneak up on her. Where art was her career (or so she thought), from the age of 15 writing songs had just been a hobby; an outlet where she could see where her mind went with no external expectations. “From about 18, I was making music alone - experimental, fuzzy, lo-fi stuff; embracing mistakes and recording through my Mac mic. I was inspired by unique sounds and music with loads of imperfections,” she remembers. “It wasn’t what I thought I’d be doing so I was just going with the flow. Having fun was my inspiration, and seeing what I liked.”

With a post-university move to Barcelona to pursue her art, however, came a turning point. Having previously vowed that she would never set foot on a stage (“God bless you and well done, but it’s not for me”), Genovese found herself doing exactly that. Much to her surprise, it felt good - so much so that, when she returned to Manchester, it was with a whole new idea. “I came back with a vision,” she chuckles. “Barcelona was when I decided I wanted to be Freak Slug.”

The name Freak Slug encapsulates Genovese’s artistic world both perversely and perfectly. Her releases under the name so far - debut 2020 EP 'Videos' and its viral hit 'Radio' (13.5 million Spotify streams and counting), and follow-up EPs 'I’m In Love' and 'Viva La Vulva' - might have introduced listeners to her “more summery, happy, LA sound”, but with the advent of debut album 'I Blow Out Big Candles', this Slug is burrowing down into evermore unlikely places. As she accurately points out: “The name is giving more grunge than joy”.

Hugely influenced by ‘90s cult heroes like Ride and Mazzy Star, Freak Slug is all about hitting a mood. A big, vocal character IRL, Genovese acknowledges that, when it comes to more internal matters, she finds life less easy. “I struggle to feel, in all honesty; music that moves me is the only way that I can feel sometimes. So if I can make something that makes me feel things, that’s cool cos I don’t get that opportunity often, and if I can make other avoidant people feel things, that’s cool too.” She laughs: “I’ve got the energy, I don’t need to listen to fucking drum ‘n bass. I’ve already got that!”

A large part of the journey towards 'I Blow Out Big Candles' has been embracing these parts of her personality. Collaborating with Jadu Heart’s Alex Headford across the record, the process became one of stripping it all back to the playful, spontaneous way Freak Slug began, back before Genovese had any eyes on her, when she was making music just for herself. Rather than polish her musical world up for her debut, she wanted to actively break it down. “My paintings are fucking weird and wacky and textural and authentically myself because no-one sees them. But with Freak Slug in the past, I was scared to fuck about [because there was more risk],” she says. “It’s just about not giving a shit about trivial matters, It takes a lot for me to care, so I like to show that carelessness in my art. Now, with the music on this album, I’m really showing that nonchalant vibe.”

When Freak Slug speaks of carelessness, it’s in the Stephen Malkmus version of the word: the Pavement frontman who she highlights as the sort of writer - loose, instinctive, not bound by technical convention - that she’s interested in. She wants to make music that “has bite”, that “doesn’t fuck about”, that “cuts the shit”. 'I Blow Out Big Candles' is a strong statement of all of this and more.

TRACK LISTING

1. Ya Ready
2. Sexy Lemon
3. Spells
4. Be Your Girl
5. Liquorice
6. Get Away
7. Shiver
8. Hello
9. Witch
10. Killer
11. Piece Of Cake
12. Ugly Smile

“I started to think about what I could do to challenge my own listeners,” says Ian Black aka SLUG. “And what would be my angle without just releasing 40 minutes of generic bad music?”

This was a question that Black found himself asking after thinking about albums made by revered artists who released specific records that some of their loyal fanbase hated - Arctic Monkeys and Tranquillity Base Hotel and Casino, Leonard Cohen and Death of a Ladies Man, Lou Reed and Berlin. “My friend likened Lou’s Berlin to ‘Andrew Lloyd Webber on a horrendous drug come down’. Andrew Lloyd Webber on a horrendous drug come down? That sounds amazing!”

Although Thy Socialite!, the first release from Field Music’s new record label Daylight Saving Records, is not the sound of Lloyd Webber quivering and sweating in a rotting Berlin flat but instead, a fun, joyous, audacious record of hard rock, glam, and pop that ranges from arena to art school. “I wanted to include a more rockist palette,” Black says. “My last album, Higgledypiggledy, had influences including The Cardiacs, Prince and The Residents. For this one I wanted to see what I could get out of less indie audience friendly artists such as Toto, Sweet, Wings, Def Leppard and ZZ Top and merge it with a SLUG sensibility. Due to the more rock approach, I was happy for the album to become a big classic rock unit - pompous even.”

However, simply a pastiche and nostalgic throwback this isn’t. Despite the playful nods to some of the more grandiose, theatrical and overblown elements of the aforementioned genre, it’s also an album with a contemporary pop edge, slick production and a tangible connection to SLUG’s previous deft mix of indie, rock and art pop.

The result of all of this is an album that is fun and unpredictable but also conceptually smart, ambitious and adventurous. A place where classic hard rock and smart art-pop are treated equal, and where taking the piss doesn’t have to equate to being novelty or disposable. It was all part of the challenge that Black set himself from the off when he asked himself “how could I challenge the SLUG listener but bring them on a new fresh journey which will confuse them at first but they will ultimately love?”

For David Brewis of Field Music, it was the ideal first record to kick off their new label. "This seemed like the perfect start for Daylight Saving Records," he says. "We've always loved what Ian does and it's been a thrill over the years to help Ian dig these wild musical ideas out from his brain. Now we can have a hand in putting them into people's ears too."

STAFF COMMENTS

Martin says: A reasonably bonkers, shockingly cohesive mashing together of spiky math-rock, dreamy prog and slick indie music that never strays far enough from the melody to be prohibitive. There are definitely echoes of fellow North-Easterner Richard Dawson here too and that's certainly no bad thing.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Insults Sweet Like Treacle
Please Turn It Up
Casual Cruelty
Instant Reaction
Honestly Subjective 'Bout Your Own Thing
Lovingly Legerdemain
Wow (Whatta Gurl)
Side B
Depends On What You Think Is Nice
Be A Good Martyr!
Settled With A Wink
I Love That Actually
Silly Little Things That We Do
Cut Of Your Jib

Slug return with a brand new album, ‘HiggledyPiggledy’, through Memphis Industries.

Slug is the nom de plume of North East native Ian Black and, whereas acclaimed debut album ‘Ripe’ was made in collaboration with Peter Brewis and David Brewis of Field Music, ‘HiggledyPiggledy’ was composed, produced and played entirely by Black, enabling him to give free reign to his beguiling brand of Dada-rock.

Lead track ‘No Heavy Petting’ was consciously written to be an aggressive album opener, which pokes fun at Black’s own Mary Whitehouse-esque response to the sexualisation of music on television.

The album was inspired by a combination of The Residents, John Carpenter and the soundtracks of Don Cherry (particularly ‘Holy Mountain’) and Masahiko Sato (particularly ‘Belladonna’) plus the Dada art movement which will be self-evident to anyone who’s seen the hilarious and life affirming Slug live experience, replete with ever changing stage wear (snooker players, sailors, 50s jazz combo) and spontaneous crowd participation.

Black intended ‘HiggledyPiggledy’ to be a more minimal affair than debut ‘Ripe’, focussed more on rhythm and percussion. Thematically the record was written against the backdrop of political turmoil but really it’s about the strange life Black leads in his native Sunderland, an autodidact outsider living his life in Wetherspoons arguing with some of the questionable attitudes of locals. Blacks stated aim to “have fun writing truly horrible lyrics,” playing characters “venting in pubs, writing in the character of how some people think and behave.”

TRACK LISTING

No Heavy Petting
Earlobe
Gibberish
Basic Aggression
Lackadaisical Love
Dolly Dimple
Tongue
You Don't Need To Wake Up
Humming And Hawing
Petulia
A Soft Shoe Number
Arbitrary Lessons In Custom
You Are As Cold As A Dead Fish

Slug is the brand new musical venture from the mind of Ian Black, a merrily disruptive influence on the North East music for more than a decade. His debut album 'Ripe' is released on Memphis Industries. With Slug, Black wanted to get away from the tinnitus inducing noise rock of his formative bands, letting the idea dictate the song's form and sonic palette. Black says of the album "'what ifs' play a massive part in ripe. what if we use a stoner metal riff and use it like a dub bass part or what if we combined the drumming style of John Bonham with James Brown beat and the squelch bass of Claudio Simonetti and Fabio Pignatelli".

Taking inspiration from film soundtracks (Enter the Dragon, Suspiria), 20th century abstract and minimalist music but also the rock and funk chops of Led Zeppelin, Prince and Funkadelic, the resulting album is concise, unselfconscious, idiosyncratic and exquisitely executed. Animators brothers quay, Phil Mulloy and Jan Svankmajer oblique approaches to subject matter also rubbed off on black and lend the slug album an air of the hypnagogic. 'Ripe' opener grimacing mask tackles how to break the cycle of personal and work related problems. Cockeyed rabbit wrapped in plastic focuses on the rocky foundations of apparently immutable institutions of power. 'Greasy Mind' is the most pop moment on the album that sees Zeppelin matched with 80's Madonna and screaming guitar solos. Running to get past your heart rides a wave of simplicity with a three note distorted bass riff, a one line chorus purely based on the phonetics, bongos and drums recorded with two vocal mics. 'Kill Your Darlings' is a straight to video horror film soundtrack dealing with how, as an artist, you have to avoid treating each creation like one of your kids. The album was recorded at Field Music's Roker studio with Peter and David Brewis on production duties. The Field Music brothers also return the favour for Black who toured extensively with their band as bassist. They play on the album and in the surreally fun yet precision engineered live band where they're joined by Andrew Lowther on bass and Rhys Patterson.

It was playing with Field Music that gave Ian the impetus to start Slug "you cannot be on the road for a year with the guys and not feel inspired. sometimes that helps create a sense of self belief that you can create your own thing.....however delusional that maybe." Slug have made one of the year's most inventive and rewarding debut long players. 2015 is 'Ripe' for their picking.