The Graceful Slicks - Demo 5

(Self-released, 2013)

Though they began life as a ramshackle bunch, knocking out Buffalo Springfield knockoffs, The Graceful Slicks have grown with every successive demo into real musical auteurs, honing the cooler-than-cool essence of 1960s counter culture and taking the energy of garage rock and ethereal space jams to create some of the most enjoyable music currently coming out of Oxford. Although not always the most original of songwriters (they are, after all, shamelessly retrospective), there is considerable skill in making each new release feel like a lost relic from a time long gone, and this lends the band a real sense of authenticity. 

And on 'Aztec Bird Song' the band manage to make a 1960s space jam sound amazingly contemporary. On the other hand, 'Venus Flytrap' is pure, unadulterated Nuggets: Original Artyfacts material – if you listen close enough you can probably hear an electric jug solo buried somewhere in the mix. But it’s opener 'Lucky Pierre', with its hazy lead guitar, busy egg-shaker rhythm and slacker-anthem chorus that is the true star here, bringing to mind The Beta Band.

You’ve got to admire the Graceful Slicks’ dedication to the sixties aesthetic, never allowing themselves to plough into Dad rock territory but instead remaining inspired by the more obscure, fringe artists who continue to be a positive influence on indie music today. Like the Beta Band, perhaps it’s time for the Slicks to compile these demos into a cohesive album – the 5 Demos, perhaps? 

[Originally published in Nightshift magazine, issue 213, April 2013]
http://nightshift.oxfordmusic.net/2013/apr.pdf