There is a specific kind of album that gets made when life refuses to slow down long enough for you to process any of it. SINCE WE LAST SPOKE is that kind of album. Slodown wrote it across two years during which a close friend died by suicide, another was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and a romantic relationship gradually came apart. Any one of those things would be enough to reshape a person. All three happening across the same stretch of time is something else entirely.
That context matters because the music holds it without being crushed by it. Slodown, born in Singapore and now based in Brooklyn, has spent a decade building a catalog that blends alternative pop with R&B textures and subtle rap stylings since his 2016 debut single Khaled. Collaborations with artists including Jasmine Sokko, 9m88, Bohan Phoenix, Linying, and Dru Chen have expanded that catalog considerably. SINCE WE LAST SPOKE is his sophomore album and the most emotionally direct thing he has made, but it does not mistake openness for self-indulgence. The record is also, in places, genuinely beautiful to listen to.
The Album
HUSH opens the record with Sweet Treats on a transportive track that builds from soft airy synth tones toward smooth vocal leads and mesmeric instrumental textures. Drums and guitar give it a gritty warmth before the emotional vocal performance carries it home. It is a stunning entry point and a sign of how the album intends to move through heavy material, with atmosphere rather than declaration.
KNOTS follows with hazy distant vocalisations before Slodown’s expressive leads come in above pulsing basslines and laid back percussion. It is an experimental R&B outing packed with twists and turns that rewards repeated listening.
POISON demonstrates his ability to pull in wider pop appeal without losing the emotional thread, built around bouncy beats and woozy instrumentation in a way that feels natural rather than calculated.
MAIN STREET, featuring Granata, is one of the more striking moments on the record. Tender vocal lines layer up before shifting into a commanding rapped delivery backed by sweeping instrumental elements. It is an engrossing alternative hip hop outing that maintains its impact even in the absence of drums, which is a harder trick to pull off than it sounds.
Real Enough brings catchy vocal leads, shuffling percussion, and intricate instrumental tones into something memorable and genuinely unique. GRAND STREET, featuring W.Y. Huang, moves with a mellow rhythmic march and infectious vocal leads above popping bass grooves and dreamy instrumentation, bending between soothing melodic moments and steady hypnotic energy.
I GET IT NOW starts with soft key tones and drifting bass textures before stripping back to moving vocal lines and graceful guitar work. It is heartfelt and angsty in equal measure and one of the more quietly devastating pieces of writing on the album.
HOMICIDE closes the record with Linying’s elegant vocals giving way to bluesy guitar work from Dru Chen, who adds his own flair to deliver a stunning finale. It is the right choice for a closing track, warm and measured where so much of what preceded it has been turbulent.
The Verdict
SINCE WE LAST SPOKE is a grief record that does not announce itself as one. The heaviness is present throughout, but so is the beauty, the moments of connection, the collaborators who bring their own voices into the material, and the sense of an artist working through something in real time and finding music on the other side of it. That is not an easy balance to strike. Slodown strikes it.
This is the record that deserves to introduce him to a much wider audience.
SINCE WE LAST SPOKE is out now. Follow Slodown for new releases.
For more indie music coverage, visit PressPlayReview.com.