Slothrust

Slothrust crafts a robust sonic identity by blending pop hooks with theatrical melodies, jazz-tinged chord voicings, rock rhythms, and sludgy guitars, thereby delivering a distinctive take on the restless energy of 1990s alternative music. Fronted by singer, songwriter, and guitarist Leah Wellbaum, the band issued its first album for a label in 2014 with Of Course You Do, whose track “7:30 AM” was selected as the theme for the FX series You’re the Worst. Subsequent releases continued this trajectory, as the ambitious full-length efforts The Pact and Parallel Timeline in 2021, followed by the 2023 EP I Promise, further broadened the group’s palette.

The trio originated when Leah Wellbaum on guitar, Kyle Bann on bass, and Will Gorin on drums connected while studying music at Sarah Lawrence College during the late 2000s. Their initial outing, the four-song EP The Demo(n)s, appeared independently in 2010 and already displayed the alt-rock foundation laced with unconventional elements that would become their signature; a year afterward they documented Live @ Southpaw. By then headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, they unveiled their debut studio album Feels Your Pain in 2012. Ba Da Bing Records and Burger Records handled the sophomore LP Of Course You Do two years later, and the single “7:30 AM” again gained prominence when it anchored the 2014 FX comedy-drama You’re the Worst.

Dangerbird Records released the third album Everyone Else in 2016, after which the members moved to Los Angeles and issued the covers EP Show Me How You Want It to Be. That set reinterpreted material originally recorded by Britney Spears, Black Sabbath, and Louis Armstrong, among others. During this period the band supported Highly Suspect across the United States and Manchester Orchestra throughout Europe. Produced by Billy Bush, whose credits include Garbage and the Boxer Rebellion, the fourth studio album The Pact arrived on Dangerbird in 2018. Seeking greater experimentation, Slothrust crafted the spiritually probing Parallel Timeline as its fifth LP in 2021. Maintaining its eclectic approach, the group next delivered the 2023 EP I Promise, which reimagined Ginuwine’s 1996 R&B hit “Pony.”