Images of the desert are hard to ignore on Slow Growth, the latest album by Badlands, the project of LA songwriter / multi-instrumentalist Adrian Chi Tenney. The record, out now on Seattle label Lost Sound Tapes, tackles weighty themes, both personal and political, with a patience that’s normally reserved for the natural world. Layered vocal harmonies arrive as if carried across buttes and plains, the tempo slow and sunbaked, the lyrics reminders that beauty can be found even in the most arid of habitats.
First track ‘Small Amount’ is a great introduction to what Badlands do. The deceptively meandering and laid-back vibes cradle the song’s sentiment, Tenney delivering her lines with increasing intensity, vocals overlapping and mingling until they become something like a hypnotic mantra with an ultimately hopeful message (“Just a very small amount, sometimes that much can help you out, one thing at a time, got to keep asking why”). As the title suggests, ‘Slow it Down’ is another track that’s not afraid to take its time, to do things according to its rhythms. It’s a song about putting your own personal worries in perspective, about being kind to yourself and everyone else.
“So many times
I wanted to tell you things
Like how I’ve been hurting
Like how I’ve been crying
But I slowed it down
Wait ‘til I can see a little clearer
Wait ‘til I can breathe a little better
Gotta remember the bigger picture”
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‘Work to Do’ is a fiercely defiant track about the political climate, calling out racism and sexism and oppression in all its forms. There’s a scathing attack on those awful “All Lives Matter” non-sequiturs, plus a demand to Canada’s Prime Minister for justice for the First Nation peoples, a timely reminder that it’s not just the USA that has a shameful history. But it’s not just an angry punk song, rather a reminder that we all have a part to play in changing things for the better. Just like those hardy desert plants, we all need to hang on sometimes, to grab what little nourishment we can, to be prickly and poisonous to protect ourselves from those who try to eat us. And, most importantly, we are all capable of producing beautiful blooms.
“You’re worn out, overwhelmed
But I know that you’re not giving up
What the fuck is wrong with people?
And why is power so corrupt?
I heard a history teacher on the radio
She said we’re making progress
But it’s going too slow
We gotta get stronger, gotta organize
Even when it’s hitting us on all sides
So I’ll be there beside you
When it’s time to fight
It’s NOW!
We’ve got work to do”
The opening of ‘Can’t’ feels like storm in the desert, the rounded peals of guitar like raindrops, the gentle snarl of feedback like squally gusts of wind. The lyrics are rich with a sense of turmoil and struggle, the difficulty of being yourself when people have expectations of you. “Every small step feels like a leap,” Tenney sings, “Every small taste feels like a feast, People got ideas about what I should be, And I just can’t.” A rendition of Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’ proves the antithesis to the idea that covers are just included to fill out an album, what Lost Sound call “a radical mantra of self love and confidence.” The final song, ‘Heavy Sigh’ loops and layers vocal tracks to create something that’s strangely uplifting despite its title and repeated lyrics about stifling heat and being helplessly in love.
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Slow Growth is interested in both the macro and the micro, running a thread from our personal struggles to larger social issues, conjuring images of the natural world and applying them to our lives. We’re all individuals in a complex and finely balanced ecosystem, subject to stresses and strains and disasters, but also capable of growth and recovery. These songs feel timely, reminders of the virtues of being thoughtful and patient, that, while it’s okay to take a step back to take care of yourself, there is always someone else who needs your help too.
Head to Lost Sound Tapes to get Slow Growth on cassette, or the Badlands Bandcamp page to download it.
