Stars Align: How Things Fell Into Place For Slow Crush on 'Thirst'
Tuesday, 02 September 2025
Written by Jack Butler-Terry
Photo: Stefaan Temmerman
It feels like Slow Crush have been around forever. Though their debut album only landed in 2018, the Belgian band’s crushing brand of shoegaze feels monolithic — it takes genre hallmarks and elevates them to singular, heavier new heights that feel familiar and fresh all in the same breath.
Originating in Leuven in 2017, their eight years as a band have now produced three albums, an EP and a slew of tours around the world, but it’s also taken in label changes and turnover within their own ranks. Long story short, though, it’s meant that vocalist-bassist Isa Holliday, guitarists Jelle Ronsmans and Nic Placlé, and drummer Frederik Meeuwis, have had no shortage of inspiration and impetus in their creation of emotive and entrancing music.
Their third album ‘Thirst’ finds them branching out while working with their production dream team and playing music on their own terms. With an extensive UK tour to follown throughout October, Stereoboard called Holliday to find out more about the new age of Slow Crush, what it means to be working with Pure Noise and what we can expect from the new songs.
Hi Isa! For the uninitiated, how do you describe Slow Crush?
“That’s always a tricky one — I feel we always get pigeonholed in shoegaze, or dark shoegaze, or heavy shoegaze, but I think there’s a lot more going on. When we started the band, we never focused on shoegaze as a genre. It’s just something we grew into. We all have played together and separately in many other bands in the past, mostly in heavier genres, and I think that that is also very present in the style that we play.
“We came off the back of a doom band and, when our singer left, the idea was that I would try and pick up vocals, but I just can’t scream or grunt, so the soft, wispy vocals went well with my style of singing, with my natural timbre. That’s when I started listening to more shoegazy bands, and trying to replicate that sound in the way I sing. But the idea was always to start a more indie-style band to try something completely new. It’s an idea that had been playing in our guitar player’s mind for a long time but they just never found the right people to do it with. Then the stars aligned. We got a bunch of friends together and started writing Slow Crush songs.”
Who or what do you look to for inspiration?
“I think we find inspiration and motivation from everything, from an ice cream van that passes the house, to a random singer-songwriter on the radio, or odd noises, you know? Little things can spark an idea and it’s not always a musical thing, maybe it’s the sound of acoustics in a kitchen. That was actually something that we used on ‘Thirst’. Our drummer was recording a rhythm idea on his iPhone, just tapping on the kitchen table, and that’s something that stuck. I can’t say that there’s a particular band that we look up to, because it’s either all or none of the above.
What was the creative process like for ‘Thirst’?
“The way we like to write is to track a demo as quickly as we can. I’m actually sitting in our home studio at the moment. Usually our guitar player comes up with an idea or chord progression and then he quickly records it. We get our drummer in, and then we build up 1,000 layers of guitar on top of it. For ‘Thirst’, the songs came piecemeal in between tours, because we were touring heavily on the ‘Hush’ cycle all the way up until early last year. We’ve had some of the songs for quite a while and we had a lot more that we cut. We like to have pretty substantial demos when we go into the studio. Then we practice those so that we know that they’re completely in the fingers — when we go into the studio we can play them almost with our eyes closed.
“We were very happy to be able to work with Lewis Johns (Rolo Tomassi, Svalbard, Employed To Serve) this time round. We’ve recorded all of our other stuff in The Ranch as well with the exception of ‘Hush’ because, obviously, the pandemic locked us in Belgium. We also worked with Neil Kennedy from The Ranch as well for engineering and mixing and everything. So we were always in close connection with them. Coming back to The Ranch was like coming home.
“The big difference between the previous albums and this one is that this is a lot more daring, sound-wise. Lew is used to working with heavier bands, so we were curious whether that would be a hit or a miss with us. I think he did it justice. We put the vocals a bit louder in the mix, which can be hit or miss for people that are used to listening to shoegaze, where vocals are almost not present at all. And it’s not like they’re way on top, either, it’s a nice balance. There’s just more oomph in the sound, in the overall power.”
‘Thirst’ is billed as being all about the fragility of human connection. Is it based on personal experiences or filtered through a character lens?
“It’s a mixture of both. There’s a lot going on in the world, especially right now, and with all of our personal experiences throughout the whole process of writing and recording. It does seem like after we got the mixes and masters back, it gave us a completely different perspective that we could link the songs to different emotions that have happened after recording, in a way. It was also like listening to the songs as listeners instead of as the people who’ve written it. You know how, when you’re a teenager, you think that all songs are written about you? That was the feeling that we got when everything was packaged and presented to us again.”
‘Thirst’ is your first release with Pure Noise. What has the first year been like on their roster?
“It’s been really, really good. We’re extremely grateful that they’ve taken us on. We’ve been talking for a long, long time with them. With this record, it felt like that was the home that we needed to be in. We met with Cahil [Bhanji] from Pure Noise when we played Furnace Fest a couple of years ago. That’s how long these conversations have been going on, and then we brought that back up when we had this record written. We sent them the demos, and they loved it. The team is really helpful and friendly.
“We have no qualms about talking openly with them, which is how we like to work. Leaving Church Road Records was scary, because they are our best friends and you’re kind of wondering, ‘Is the grass really greener on the other side?’ But we’re still super close with Sammy [Urwin] and Justine [Jones] from Church Road — they actually came and visited us while we were in the studio.”
Slow Crush’s ‘Thirst’ is out now through Pure Noise.
Slow Crush Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Thu October 16 2025 - BRISTOL The Fleece
Fri October 17 2025 - MILTON KEYNES Craufurd Arms
Sat October 18 2025 - LONDON Oslo
Mon October 20 2025 - GLASGOW Classic Grand Lounge
Tue October 21 2025 - BELFAST Black Box
Wed October 22 2025 - DUBLIN Grand Social
Thu October 23 2025 - MANCHESTER Rebellion
Fri October 24 2025 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE The Grove
Sat October 25 2025 - LEEDS Key Club
Sun October 26 2025 - NOTTINGHAM Bodega Social Club
Mon October 27 2025 - BIRMINGHAM Hare And Hounds
Tue October 28 2025 - SOUTHAMPTON Joiners
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