SLOW DRAW - Living in a Land of Scarecrows (Review)

Written by: The Administrator 

Going into Slow Draw's latest release, there were several indications that Living in a Land of Scarecrows was going to be a little intense.

​The first was the cover art, which is, as you can see, unsettling in a way that reads as extremely deliberate. There's a universal unsettling eeriness at play here. This creepy clown child feels aligned with the dark and often depressive aura of dark shadows in happy places, rather than the colorful and relaxing ambience of Yellow & Gold, Quiet Joy, or numerous other examples from Slow Draw's catalog. Given my familiarity and expectations, opening this promo email and seeing the cover art was a little jarring, which is by no means a bad thing.

The second indicator was the tracklist, which consists of a single song running for 23:12 minutes. Regardless of tone, a track spanning that amount of time indicates a certain intensity, especially when the long form isn't exactly a common practice for the artist in question. 

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​Living in a Land of Scarecrows leans heavily into the sunn O))) brand of sparse harshness, with a staticky sonic canvas that is primary an undulating drone punctuated by fuzz and feedback. Over the extensive breadth, the sound loses any sense of externality--moments after the brief vocalization of "if I only had a brain," the droning seems to move directly inside the listener's skull. The sound occupies the vacant space where a brain should sit, reverberating through the cranial vault, filling the void with sepia noise. I enjoy the feeling. It's isolating and introspective. It's meditative yet slightly uncomfortable, with a  palpable tension that feels almost contradictory to the general sameness of the drone.
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There are some variations, however, and the general feeling is one of forward progress. Somewhere around the 14 minute mark, there is some variation with the introduction of a comparatively urgent riff, and around 18:30, a second vocal sample is utilized, shaking the fuzz and reengaging the mind. It's almost alarming to hear a voice at this point in the track, and the inclusion sets up the outro nicely. 
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So should you spend 23 minutes and 12 seconds listening? I think yes. While recommending drone always does come with a certain level of risk, I recommend giving Living in a Land of Scarecrows a listen if you're in the mood for a droning brainscrub. Slow Draw is coming out with a new album at the end of April, an album that promises "a continuation of the frustration with current times and events as expressed in the recent release Living in a Land of Scarecrows." With that in mind, I'm partially viewing this particular release as a harbinger. I'm excited to see how this sound develops.

​Slow Draw - Living in a Land of Scarecrows was released Jan. 20th, 2025. Find it here! 

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Slow Draw can be found:
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