Fresh Bread

Slow Runner \\ The Canal Room \\ NY, NY \\ 4.1.2011

Slow Runner played the Canal Room Friday night, touring to support their new album Damage Points. 

Damage Points by slowrunner

Whatchu Talkin' 'Bout, Clive - The Slow Runner Edition

Here's what South Carolina band Slow Runner (sheepishly) says it about itself:

This is what we hope our music sounds like: interesting, lyrical  pop music shot out into space, bouncing around the satellites and getting mixed  in with all their beeping and blipping. like if r2-d2 had an aching heart and a love for the noisiest beatles songs. ideally, if you took out the depressing lyrics and substituted in educational stuff about sharing with others and the states and capitals, you could sit down at a piano and have a classroom of kids singing along within minutes. that's the idea anyway. weird sounds get added later. and then we get to play live and see if we can make every heart   in the room burst with pent-up feelings. it's a good job.

In 2005, lead singer Michael Flynn and the rest of Slow Runner signed to Clive Davis's baby, J Records and released No Disassemble in 2006.   To me, it seems crazy to let a band go that put out a fantastic collection of pop songs.  Fate is what it is and Slow Runner pressed on like the tortoise against the evil Clive hare.  Enter their most recent album, Shiv, in 2007.  Shiv is a powerful statement of "Don't need ya"; so much so you almost have to wonder what exactly what was the reasoning in letting them go their own way.  Peep one of the standout tracks (the catchy "Deep End") off of the album here and decide for yourself if they should have been given another chance to break by Clive:

"Deep End" - Slow Runner.mp3

EDIT:  Yeti likes them too.