Stanley Welch
Words by Alicia Tomkinson, Photograph by Anna Metzger
6th of March holds the date where the world gets to witness Stanley Welch’s cosmic mission into the realm of emotional turmoil and chaos – welcome to ‘Loe’.
After pressing play on the four-track EP from Glasgow’s experimental sonic wanderer, I’m immediately transported into a world of country rock, immense jazz and… well, a bit of everything really. If you can envision a time in space where the Beach Boys pick up Bollywood strings, then yeah, it’s that sort of scene I guess we’re painting here.
Kicking things off with ‘No More Room in Your Heart’, Stanley builds a slow burning picture of life, dealing with the guilt of not being able to help a friend. Yet, much to my surprise, I found myself humming along to some sort of cathartic explosion as I’m taken along for a journey I didn’t know was coming. And, like I said before, that’s just the start of things.
It’s important to note that this isn’t just another one of those breakup records, even if it was written on the back of a 6-year relationship ending. In fact, ‘Loe’ delves deeper into the feelings that we all know a bit too well, like carrying that dreaded lost-in-limbo cloud around, when all you want is to just get back to being yourself again after becoming fever-stricken, as picked up on in ‘A Little House’. This craving to return to something that’s familiar and comfortable is referenced in the EPs title, named after a lake near Stanley’s childhood home.
There’s quite an immense shift in sound throughout the tracks, as each explores a unique protagonist with a mellow melancholy tune. Breathe it all in and get lost in what we’re calling Stanley Welch’s most self-assured record to date.