It’s inevitable for a song as captivating as “Slop” to garner such positive attention when it’s cast out of the shadows by none other than Lorde herself. The teen songstress presented the track by Forth Wanderers to her followers, and the ship of praise for the young group set sail.
With the band originally consisting of four males from Montclair, New Jersey, the sole female and lead singer Ava Trilling joined the group from a well-intentioned love story. While in high school, lead guitarist Ben Guterl had formed a crush on Trilling and decided to send her a song he had written. After a time of silence, Trilling sent a demo back to Guterl with vocals over the song, and Forth Wanderers was formed.
Listen: “Slop” – Forth Wanderers
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A song that exudes lovesick adolescence, “Slop” was suitably written by a band whose members are all under the age of 21. Lead singer Ava Trilling graduated high school just this past June, and her four fellow bandmates are currently all juniors in college. However, their young age doesn’t impede their music: It turns it into prowess song making.
Trilling’s doleful lyrics are slathered all over the tune as she tiresomely sings about the exhausted, teenage feelings of not having quite fully grown into oneself.
I know I’m slow I’ve been told
Things change I’m still young
She then gorgeously manifests the way one becomes so totally and utterly engrossed in another person’s love over Ben Guterl’s and Duke Greene’s grimey guitar chords that ooze angst while giving a sentimental sensation.
I breathe through your lungs
I breathe through your lungs
The song introspectively transitions from a love that was once present to one that ultimately vanishes. The internal search for a reasoning turns into obsessive contemplation that hinders everyday happenings.
Oh where did I go wrong
Oh where did I go wrong
I can’t think straight
I can’t eat babe
I can’t stay awake
Trilling laments over unrequited love with the heart-wrenching realization that her life is fortunate enough to where she shouldn’t feel grim, yet, it’s something she can’t help.
I love too much
To hurt this bad
Oh, and I have too much
To be this sad
The hazy track stays at a consistently slow tempo, leaving your body to sway and become fully enthralled in a deep, nostalgic trance.
Trilling has noted that, “‘Slop’ isn’t about one thing in particular, but more of an abundance of things: change, falling out of love, feeling alone and out of place.”
Even the title “Slop” has multiple meanings that adequately fit the song. Her feelings overflow and spill out of her as she gushes over an ideal person that has completely consumed her thoughts and well-being. When you’re a teen, finding love isn’t just anything; it’s everything.
The last lines of the song end with idyllic imagery that perfectly set the scene of a young adult film: “I dreamt last night you were mouthing my name, under blue skies.” Those types of dreams and fantasies are familiar to anyone who has ever had a longing for another person. Only when it becomes a reality does a fear start to set in that it could end soon, and “Slop” emphatically takes us through that harrowing journey.
Catch the band at Brooklyn’s Market Hotel on September 24th, and pre-order Forth Wanderers’ Slop EP, out 11/11/2016 via Father/Daughter Records.
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cover photo: Forth Wanderers © Grace Rossi-Conaway
Watch: “Slop” – Forth Wanderers
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