Slow Dancing Society
The Slow and Steady Winter
Hidden Shoal Recordings

The Slow and Steady Winter is the second album from Drew Sullivan a.k.a. Slow Dancing Society. His Society of one performs spacey and minimal ambient. Sullivan's influences lines up quite a spectre of names (according to their label): classics like Brian Eno, Pink Floyd, David Sylvian, Tears For Fears (..?), The Cure (..?) , Prince (...!), Spandau Ballet (??) and U2 (!?), Def Leppard (!!?), to some contemporaries like Manual, Charles Webster, Explosions In The Sky, Sigur Rós, Hammock, Red House Painters, My Morning Jacket. Quite a list.

The Slow and Steady Winter is a collection of free floating, wide stretched ambient works. Loose fit, no borders, seemingly not all too much structure. Yet, the compositions do have beginnings, middle parts and ends. Even also in that order. I must admit that 8 long tracks is quite a dose for me. This is music for relaxation and real chill out and down. "The Rest Of Our Lives", "The Time We've Spent" and "Romantica" are tracks standing out when tickling my pair of ears. But, by all means, The Slow and Steady Winter is powerful and majestic, and quite a pill for us Northerners on the threshold to a long and harsh winter.

As Tim said about the debut album The Sound of Lights When Dim here at the Kafé last year: "...without drifting into the nauseating realm of New Age. For anyone who thinks that ambient music is for hippies, healers and music theorists, this album will convince you that it's possible to craft beautiful background music that you just can't quite keep in the background...". True words, also this time. To paraphrase a British space rock band: Ladies and gentlemen, come floating in space.

Copyright © 2007 Håvard Oppøyen