Bacchanalia Magazine

by Ceirios Bebb

Five years on from their 2019 album ‘Actors’ and after announcing Slow Hollows had come to an end, Austin Feinstein from L.A. returns to Slow Hollows as a solo project to bring us his fourth album, revisiting the indie rock style of their first album. The new album is an expression of Feinsteins’ identity, memories and his growth in confidence as a solo and experimental artist. Bullhead’s wistful melodies have a cozy, familiar feeling but with undertones of melancholia combined with lyrics describing past struggles, change, healing and moving on.

“My grandma calls stubborn people bullheaded and it always stuck with me: I really relate to that term,” says Slow Hollows’ Austin Feinstein.The albums title on the theme of memories and stubbornness is reflected in the music of this album with warm moody synths, strings and nostalgic guitar riffs. The soothing music also contrasts the raw and personal lyrics discussing breaking free from habits, people and becoming acquiescent in songs such as Homebody and Old Yeller, Old Yeller being one of the singles released from the album alongside Idle Hands and Soap. 

The lyrics express experiences of moving on and developing as a person and Feinstein looking back at his musical roots and career. They have a homely feeling, revisiting a hometown that is the past and change. Lyrics of title track Bullhead have a sense of wanting freedom and having to leave things behind, the sacrifices for better and to move forward and wanting other to help themselves but also wanting to help at the same time. These feelings are also expressed in other songs such as ‘Homebody’ and ‘Soap’ with the lyric “Wanna be your crutch and everythingMaybe I’m the one that needs a mend”. Villain gives the sense of realization and forgetting to care for yourself through hardships. The lyrics of  ‘A world is waiting’ have a sense of ambition, moving forward and healing with lines “I wanna be bigger than me” and “I hope you know a world is waiting”.

Over their four albums Slow Hollows have released a diverse array of songs and expanded through a variety of genres and instrumentation. From their upbeat yet evocative first album ‘Atelophobia’ to their R&B and dance infused third album ’Actors’, Slow Hollows sound for Bullhead has drawn aspects from past albums to experiment in the the indie rock genre similar to the first album with a slower, emotive sound similar, and use of synths as heard in the third. Tracks ‘Tired’ and ‘A world is waiting’ also have a country style edge which creates a wide array of genres and styles in this one album.

Bullhead is out on the 8th of March 2024 via Danger Collective