Album Review: Slum Sociable - LIF

Trust Slum Sociable to bring the easy-breezy summer vibes with their new EP, LIF. Right off the mark they’ve presented a short but sweet release that is easily suited to being the soundtrack to your summer – barbecues, outdoor shows, long drives down the highway. The delectable sonic differences Slum Sociable lay out are a real feast of delights, but satisfaction isn’t always on the menu.

Listening to lead single Life Is Free, you can just see yourself grooving at a summer festival to the crisp beats and sweeping vocals – truly a hypnotic track. Déjà Vu is Slum Sociable’s weakest creation, mind you – your attention wanders because of the unbalanced and uninteresting dynamic in the songwriting and production, the track lacking any significant hook compared to the rest of the EP. While Slum Sociable do try, though, to do something equally exciting as the sultry sweetness of If I Were Called Back, or the pulsating quickening of Afterthought, they just miss the mark. 

You have to appreciate Slum Sociable’s effort with LIF but you do wonder if they’ve set out to actively make a measurably different sound – for the most part, they’ve succeeded, even if they’re not aware. It’s the inconsistencies in their ingenuity that fail this release.