New Music Monday - "Peach" by Slothrust

It's been a minute, folks...and no, I'm not talking about the NPR radio show with Sam Sanders. I'm back in 2019 with a renewed focus on writing about the music that moves me.

Our first #NewMusicMonday is the subversively Disney-esque take on a walk in the woods video for "Peach" by the LA-based trio Slothrust. The lead single from last year's LP Pact, the song and video find bandleader Leah Wellbaum ruminating, stream-of-consciousness style, on the injuries and aggressions of childhood, how they try to linger in our consciousness as adults, and how those slights only have the power we invest in them. Wellbaum is accompanied through the forest with her thoughts and a bevy of plants and animals with more than a passing resemblance to Snow White's "A Smile and a Song". The piece is directed by Jason Lester, who's been behind the camera on Pedro the Lion and Butch Walker videos, and produced by DC's own Laura Burhenn for Our Secret Handshake.

The jangly, oddly timed riff that kicks off the song is supported by a propulsive 1-2 bass-guitar punch and is driven home by Wellbaum's soaring, slightly androgynous speak-singing. Besides the obvious comparisons to Nico and L7's Donita Sparks, Wellbaum's voice also calls to mind Heartless Bastards' Erika Wennsertrom and Celebrity Skin-era Courtney Love.

If you didn't catch their November show in DC, you have a second chance April 27 at Charm City's Ottobar. And for the uninitiated, the name of the band if "Sloth-Rust", not "Slo-Thrust".