SLUNG UNLEASH THEIR POWERFUL DEBUT ALBUM 'IN WAYS'!

Scott O'Shea
3 days ago
7 min read

Slung released their debut album 'In Ways' on May 2nd, 2025 via Fat Dracula.

A person helps a chained figure in a river. A burning barn is encircled by a snake. Stars shine in a dark sky over a hilly landscape. — Slung - In Ways

Slung’s debut album ‘In Ways’ is a collaborative combustion of its members’ experiences, circumstances and supreme musicianship. Their sonic universe - comprising the power of guitarist Ali Johnson’s incendiary riffs, vocalist Katie Oldham’s enviable dynamic and tonal range, bassist Vlad Matveikov’s undulating, yet grounding basslines and drummer Ravi Martin’s expert rhythmic punctuation - is a veritable musical supernova.

Katie’s storytelling and the compelling way she brings together personal, lived experience with more abstract, conceptual ideas and characters is evident throughout ‘In Ways’.

Its ribcage-rattling opening track ‘Laughter’ is “

about a face-off that’s been a long time coming, and the difficult relationships we can have with members of our family, especially our parents,” Katie explains. “When we’re children, we’re so desperate for our parents' attention and approval that their dismissal / rejection can feel agonising. With an emotionally absent parent, trying desperately to earn love or consideration from someone who isn’t capable of giving it can be so destructive.”

Elsewhere on the album, Katie’s inspirations range from sex workers and the power dynamics that come along with that profession (‘Class A Cherry’) to the tragic occurrences of bull fights in Spain (‘Matador’).

Musical influences within the Slung camp are far reaching, with the band’s members referencing artists from Deftones and Baroness, to Wednesday and MJ Lenderman, to Queens of the Stone Age and even a sprinkling of Chappell Roan and Fleetwood Mac.

Brighton is Slung’s spiritual home as that’s where they initially came together. The creative hub, and Vlad’s studio (Small Pond) act as an anchor.

Ravi comments:

“None of us are actually from Brighton but all ended up there - it’s a haven for DIY music nuts and the scene has been, and still is, incredibly vibrant. So without it, we wouldn’t ever have crossed paths.”

Initially the brainchild of Vlad, Slung were some time in the making. He tells of randomly meeting Ali at a campground in Australia in 2009, falling in love with Katie during lockdown, and hearing a demo of drummer Ravi Martin’s old band in his other role running indie label Small Pond.

Vlad started writing with vocalists such as Zac Jackson (El Moono), Lucy Sheehan (Projector), Annie Dorret (CLT DRP) and Mykl Barton (Sick Joy) while asking his tub-hitting-friends like Blake Mostyn (Delta Sleep) Liam Kearley (Vower), or Dave Morgan (The Physics House Band) for hand with finishing first drafts of those songs.

Bringing Katie Oldham on board as a permanent vocalist was its own journey.

“First thing you need to know is that Vlad is an absolute machine,” she states, matter-of-factly. “He has creativity, passion and drive like nothing else, and an ability to ‘get shit done’ that is second to none. He approached me about two years ago with these demos to see if I wanted to work with him as a vocalist, and maybe try turning them into a band. I totally bitched out,” she admits, laughing. “My previous band (Sit Down) had only very recently fallen apart and my confidence was in the gutter - I just didn’t feel ready. But immediately from working with him (on just one track to begin with), I felt incredibly reassured and encouraged by him, and it was such a different songwriting experience than I’d had before. After about a year of convincing and with Vlad having successfully recruited Ali and Ravi, I finally took the plunge and joined.” Having found a musical home that really fits, she now remarks poignantly to the rest of the group and their journey together: “I can’t remember when you all became main characters in my life."

‘In Ways’ contains some of the contributions from the band’s former collaborators along the way. The melodies for ‘Collider’ were largely conceived by El Moono’s Zac Jackson, which Katie adapted to fit a new lyrical narrative of a cult who are ruled by a deity they refer to as the ‘ritual prophet’ whom they converse with through the use of psychedelics.

‘Limassol’ started life with Mykl Barton from Sick Joy with Katie keeping

“most, if not all, of Mykl’s melodies from his demo as honestly, this song sounded perfect and complete before it ever reached my hands. From fragments of his lyrics I strung together a tragic and existential love story centered around the holiday resort in Cyprus in the 90’s.”

Projector’s Lucy Sheehan worked the initial stages of ‘Come Apart’, a track which sounds like it could be the opening theme for a cult TV series like Breaking Bad or True Detective. Katie says:

“When I first heard Lucy’s demo I was blown away by how cool the ideas were. Her choice of melodies were really distinctive and interesting, really transporting me to a dry dusty desert where a lone rusty car rattles along an endless highway. I ended up keeping most of those ideas, and just messed around with the lyrics a little.”

The lyrics and melodies of ‘Heavy Duty’ are the result of creativity from both Katie and CLT DRP’s Annie Dorett.

“Annie’s original demo sent chills throughout my whole body, it was super powerful,” enthuses Katie. “The belt notes at the end were so spectacular and it took me months of practice to get them right! The main hook I kept of hers was: ‘You’re dragging me down.’ I took that as a jumping off point, and what came out was the vulnerable little sister to ‘Laughter.’” The song is about generational trauma. It’s about the pain of growing up as a young girl and realising you’re being cultivated into a product the world wants to consume. “Men teach you to be quiet and obey from a young age,” explains Katie. “And so often we are raised to be as pretty and helpful as possible to serve men, to be their glamorous trophy, or servant to their every whim. I was exposed to a lot of this ideology as a kid, a lot by how my Father viewed women, and it’s taken me years to deprogram from it. Sometimes I still hear his voice coming out of mine when I react to things, the imprint of his temper flaring up in me.”

‘Nothing Left’ and ‘Falling Down’ close out the album and chronicle Katie’s devastating breakup with a bandmate and best friend of 10 years, and the fallout from that.

“It was during an already low point for me,” she says “and this important person walking out of my life felt like the last straw. So that was the only thing it felt possible to write about.” The lyrical ideas within ‘Nothing Left’ started from the moment that person messaged Katie for the last time and her immediate gut punch reaction. “Almost as soon as I’d completed this song I felt extremely embarrassed about how dramatic it was,” she says, continuing: “and have been mega critical about it ever since. I tried and tried to re-write it but I couldn’t escape what I’d already created and it wouldn’t let me budge. In the end I had no choice but to just lean into its melodrama, knowing that it’s at least completely honest to how that hurt felt at the time. After a while the drama of it all just felt cathartic, especially that Paramore-esque note bend at the end which I didn’t have faith I could do, but our wonderful engineer Sam Allen pushed me to and I’m extremely grateful he did!”

Katie communicates that one of her personal missions for the band relates to representation, inclusion, sisterhood and women being a more dominant force in music, whether that’s on stage, behind the scenes or in the crowd. It’s a mission statement that resonates through much of the band’s music and its lyrical content.

She says

“My love for women knows no bounds. Everything I do, I do for the girlies, the women and the female gaze exclusively. (This extends of course to ALL women inclusively, no TERF bullshit here.) There is just an unparalleled magical feeling when you’re around liberated, electrifying women who speak with honesty and clarity and without fear. The world is built to try and make us resent, envy and destroy each other, and I LOVE those moments where we realise we are more alike than what divides us. I want to be around women all the time, to be inspired by them, to connect with them and to share and to bond and unite.”

Slung live and in person is really where they come to life in their full form with the band astutely realising that tangible experience was important to get on the road, even before they’d released a note of music. Following the release of their debut singles, they unveiled a series of live studio sessions which truly convey the band’s prowess on the live stage. Slung will be on the road throughout 2025, armed with an arsenal of songs that will captivate the soul of anyone smart enough to listen.

Novacaine Rating: 10/10

"The band’s called SLUNG—and they just launched me into the stratosphere with their debut album In Ways. This is a spectacular release, packed with crushing riffs, pulsating drums, and filthy basslines that hit hard. Katie Oldham’s vocals don’t just sing—they resonate deep in your soul, perfectly entwined with the band’s raw power and precision."

"In Ways isn’t just impressive—it’s easily one of the top three albums of the year."

"Slung is a band that I would love to see perform at Novacaine Festival in the future"

Stream / Order "In Ways" Now: https://slungband.com/ - You won't be disappointed!