Slowly Slowly – Forgiving Spree (Album Review)
Slowly Slowly – Forgiving Spree
Released: January 24, 2025
Lineup:
Ben Stewart // Vocals & Guitar
Albert Doan // Guitar
Alex Quayle // Bass
Patrick Murphy // Drums
Online
After teasing fans for months with the drip-feeding of new music, Slowly Slowly release their fifth studio album Forgiving Spree on Friday – a solid rock album of all killer, no filler, in a tightly packaged 9-song release. The follow up to 2022’s Daisy Chain, Forgiving Spree is another confident release for the band who has evolved effortlessly within the pop-punk genre since their inception in 2015.
For lead singer Benjamin Stewart, while the process of putting a cohesive album together is never a simple task, the aim and overall message behind Forgiving Spree was. Saying he wanted a “really solid rock album with no filler”, fans can expect the same introspective lyricism held together with a catchy beat that will have everyone dancing at shows, but that’s not to say the release doesn’t come with some twists and unexpected bops along the way.
From sexy sax solos to wistful lyrics, poppier tunes to the hard-hitting emotional bangers interlaced with Ben’s renowned way with words, Forgiving Spree is a new journey for fans of the band, with many of the vocals lifted straight from the demos on which they were first recorded.
While older fans may not immediately bond with the poppier romantic sounds of some tracks like ‘Love Letters’ or ‘How Are You Mine?’, there’s no doubt the songs will transition live with the same enthusiasm, raw energy, and rock sound that Slowly has always been known for. And let’s be real, we can’t all be wallowing in our sad emo feelings forever, so a few smatterings of joy amongst another ripper album should never be discredited.
Ultimately, the new album is a listening experience into love, loss, and what it means to let go, all with a five-star production and shiny polish that gives it an evergreen, all-time feeling. No pun intended.
Let’s just get into it shall we?
The album opens strongly with ‘Forgiving Spree’, with a driving drum beat from Patrick Murphy and Ben’s lyrics exploring what happens when life keeps handing you lemons. Musing on the bad luck — of life, loss, and love as Ben previously told Wall of Sound — instead of falling into the pits of despair and an ongoing victim mentality ‘Forgiving Spree’ offers an alternate solution — what happens when you choose to forgive after all? It’s one of the best songs on the album — it boasts the signature Slowly Slowly sound, the thoughtful lyrics, and the energy transcending through speakers giving you enough to just know this will absolutely pop off live when the band tours the album across Australia in April.
The first taste fans got of Forgiving Spree was ‘Gimme The Wrench’, the tasty little earworm that hit our streaming services all the way back in June 2024. Written by Ben as he navigated the loss of his stepmother and the impending birth of his daughter, Ben says the song came along with the foresight that the next year of his life was going to be incredibly busy and stressful, but an experience he was welcoming with open arms, dubbing it an ‘Eye Of The Tiger’ moment. The song is a fighting moment on the album, with the verses delicately brought together by the careful guitar picking of Albert Doan, before its explosive chorus that serves as a reminder of life’s challenges. It’s a song to blare loudly when times get tough, and a song to pick you up and set you back on track to fight for the life you want to live.
If ‘Gimme The Wrench’ was designed to kick your ass into gear, Slowly Slowly then delivers the hard pivot of ‘How Are You Mine’ three songs in, letting listeners know that it’s not time to get comfortable with just fighting and forgiveness: the album is as much of a love story as it is about the intricacies of life. A twist on a modern day love song, the lyrics explore what it’s like to fall into a pure love that many of us could only dream of, from putting your ego aside and experiencing a different kind of fragility and vulnerability. The pretty song is all wrapped together by a toe-tapping beat, a driving drumbeat by Patrick Murphy, and one hell of a catchy chorus. Hardcore Slowly fans may remember hearing ‘Hurricane’ live before so will be thrilled to know it’s made the cut on the album. Another 10/10 banger musically, with the band sounding as tight as ever, the lyrics explore Ben’s wedding day as well as a heartbreaking miscarriage he and his wife suffered not long after. While it may sometimes seem odd to enjoy or sing enthusiastically along to a song of personal tragedy, ‘Hurricane’ encompasses everything Slowly Slowly is known for — how to turn bad moments into good, how to turn tragedy into relatability, and how to sing your heart out through loss and love. Life isn’t always beautiful, but this song is.
A song about a love that transcends time, from “the throes of Pompeii” to meeting “in a bar in Soho”, ‘All Time’ is a journey of pure imagination, either making you crave a love story for the ages or making you grateful you already have that special someone to experience that with. The story telling behind the song is magical, taking you into a journey of two souls destined to always intertwine, with the lyrics perfectly complemented by the guitar work of Alex Quayle and Albert Doan, before the song builds up into a powerful crescendo.
If there’s a muse for this album, Ben’s wife is it. ‘Love Letters’ tells another part of their love story, focusing all the songs he’s written for her and how they’re the modern day version of love letters.
Warning: if you’re single, it might make you feel extremely wistful and alone.
But, never fear… Because if you were starting to get used to the love songs, there’s a surprise coming.
One of the funnest songs on the album (in my humble opinion) is ‘That’s That’. If you were sitting pretty and starting to feel comfortable with the yearning feeling of being in love, this song will bring you back with a thump. An incredibly catchy tune, the track pokes some light-hearted fun at the ego pangs everyone feels at some stage during the throes of a relationship or, dare I say it, situationship breakdown. With an ‘80s-style sound, Slowly cements they can tackle nearly any genre of any decade, even throwing in a sexy sax solo just for fun. Another twist on the album is ‘Meltdown Masquerade’: while the verses sound like an darker, older version of Slowly, the chorus then explodes into an almost-catchy dance-like number, with the directions to “cry to your left now, tantrum to your right” guaranteed to get some good times going live. Don’t tell me twice.
‘Born Free’ is the perfect album closer, almost feeling like a hidden bonus track of sorts that used to close CDs out back in the day. Lyrically, it’s my absolute favourite song on the album, with Ben previously pointing out that fans of his solo work may see the connection to ‘You Came Along’. The song is a softly sung prose, before it builds up into a moving final minute as the rest of the band joins in and the vocals get stronger. While Ben says it’s one of his favourite songs on the album, he tells Wall of Sound it was in “contention” for a while.
“We really wanted it to be like bangers only on this record, and just not kind of indulge too much in navel gazing, but that one just hung around and just kept knocking on the door to be included,” he shared.
It ends with a personal look into Ben’s life and recording process, with his wife’s voice heard in the background talking about wanting to record it, but being in the moment. Explaining including that snippet, Ben says, “That little voice memo at the end was due to me thinking that I was recording the song as I was playing it to my wife, but I actually had missed it, and then pressed record as the song finished. And so for me, it’s just a mystery. And then she was sitting there watching me play the song for the first time after I just finished writing it, and she chose to not record because she didn’t want to wreck anything. And so forever that demo is just like, kind of floating in memory somewhere, and that little excerpt just seemed so fitting to have at the end of the song.”
It’s a poignant way to wrap up the album, with exploration of loss, the ups and downs of life, and epic love stories all tied together in a final magical moment and yet, one that was shared simply between the two people whose stories are interwoven through so many of the lyrics on the LP.
With Forgiving Spree, Slowly Slowly has delivered on their promise of all killer, no filler but there’s no doubt it’ll still leave you selfishly wanting more. In the spirit of the album, I guess we can forgive them.
Slowly Slowly – Forgiving Spree tracklisting
1. Forgiving Spree
2. Gimme The Wrench
3. How Are You Mine?
4. Hurricane
5. All Time
6. Love Letters
7. That’s That
8. Meltdown Masquerade
9. Born Free
Rating: 8/10
Forgiving Spree is out Jan 24th. Pre-order here
Review by Tahlia Pritchard @tahliaapritchard
