London post-punks TV Priest have become one of our most hyped new acts of 2020 with the string of singles released so far – including “Runner Up” and “This Island”. They’re hot on the trail towards the release of their debut album, Uppers, coming via Hand in Hive in November, and today they’ve dropped another breadcrumb on the trail in the form of “Slideshow”. Effusive frontman Charlie Drinkwater has this to say about the new song:
“You know those days where you just move from screen to screen to screen? ‘Slideshow’ is about feeling mediated, manipulated, engaged, buoyed and repulsed in equal measures in our relationship to information, digital culture, and the algorithmic pace of 21st-century life. It’s a track that acknowledges that I’m a fully culpable participant in a behaviour ‘market’ developed by faceless tech which insists it’s the best thing for all humanity (as long as it can be monetised). And most of the time I LIKE IT (or at least tolerate it) while I scroll and scroll and scroll. I suppose all I can do is talk… On to the next one, content consumer…”
TV Priest always seem to have a target in mind on their visceral tracks, but “Slideshow” might their most vicious-sounding yet. Perhaps it’s because screens are an addiction that none of us can seem to kick, even though we are fully aware of their negative effect on our mental health – it’s a furious frustration comes bubbling over in “Slideshow”. A propulsive and expressive rhythm section underpin combusting guitar, providing a battering ram for Drinkwater’s words, which slowly grow from numbed boredom to excoriating self-loathing. It’s a spiral that we’re probably all familiar with, but it never feels as vital as TV Priest make it sound on “Slideshow”.
Check out “Slideshow” below with its text-messaging video starring Drinkwater himself.
TV Priest’s debut album Uppers is coming out on November 13 through Hand in Hive (pre-order). You can find the band on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
