‘Home Is Where The Heart Is’ is the first release from the Liverpool five-piece, Paris Youth Foundation, since signing to Modern Sky UK. Recorded at the legendary Parr Street Studios and produced by Rich Turvey (Blossoms, Courteeners, Vistas), ‘Home Is Where The Heart Is’ is a track brimmed with sonic optimism, yet underpinned by a yearning for closure and comfort.

From the off the relentlessly bright instrumental evokes images of a late night drive down memory lane, where the fading auburn light of the sun battles with the gleam of overhead streetlamps. The guitar and backing vocals exchange rotations of a buoyant riff as the bass and drums lend a sense of propulsion that persists throughout. The sheer vibrancy of the track will shake the music world from the slumber and ruins of the post-Christmas musical landscape.

Frontman and songsmith Kevin Potter’s vocal delivery is earnest, and sits perfectly at the confluence of the sanguine soundtrack and poignant lyricism, serving the surface level indie rock scorcher whilst subtly reinforcing the theme of nostalgia-driven heartbreak. According to Kevin:

“‘Home Is Where The Heart Is’ is very much a love song at its core. It’s about that rare time in breakup, where you kind of don’t want to be sad or argue anymore. You just want to appreciate the time and the memories for what they were. It's about that person being home for the weekend and how a place and a person can take you back in time, and maybe just for one night you pretend you're still the same kids who fell in love all that time ago."

Manchester’s The Slow Readers Club have announced their fourth album, The Joy Of The Return, out on March 20 via Modern Sky UK. The band have also shared their new single, ‘All I Hear’, the first track to be taken from the album, alongside details of an extensive tour starting in March.

Opening to an energetic blend of driving drums and infectious guitar lines, the track builds through evocative verses and anthemic choruses, imbued with their idiosyncratic brand of insightful and confronting lyricism and set against relentlessly danceable and energy-provoking instrumentation, and premiered with Chris Hawkins on BBC 6Music. “‘All I Hear’ is about a lack of agency and an inability to affect change. That there’s something happening, and you have no choice but to go along with it,” explains singer Aaron Starkie.

Recorded at Parr Street Studios in Liverpool and produced by long-standing collaborator Phil Bulleyment, The Joy Of The Return marks a significant change in the band’s process, with their extensive touring allowing them time to write and develop tracks and arrangements through soundchecks and back-of-van jams.

“I think it’s definitely our most interesting and accomplished record musically,” says singer Aaron Starkie. “Lyrically the album covers love, alienation, the rise of right wing populism and comments on algorithm driven propaganda. And as always, I try to deliver those lyrics with uplifting melody.”

The announcement of the album comes on the back of another huge year for the band, which saw them play a mammoth, 32-date European tour, and a number of sold out UK shows including London’s The Dome and two consecutive nights at Manchester’s The Ritz following the release of their critically acclaimed third album, Build A Tower.

SPRING 2020 UK & EU TOUR DATES

23/03 – King George’s Hall, Blackburn

24/03 – The Sage 2, Gateshead

25/03 – The Liquid Room, Edinburgh

27/03 – O2 Academy, Liverpool

28/03 – O2 Institute 2, Birmingham

29/03 – The Globe, Cardiff

30/03 – Thekla, Bristol

01/04 – Pyramids Centre, Portsmouth

02/04 – Concorde 2, Brighton

03/04 – Electric Ballroom, London

04/04 – Rock City, Nottingham

06/04 – Junction, Cambridge

07/04 – Foundry, Sheffield

08/04 – Beckett University, Leeds

09/04 – Pyramid & Parr Hall, Warrington