Slow Pulp’s new album, Yard, is one of the year’s most satisfying releases. Filled with fuzzy moments and frank hooks, the Chicago outfit are taking a giant step forward since their 2020 debut record, Moveys. Yard began coming together in February 2022, as vocalist/guitarist Emily Massey was spending time in cabins around northern Wisconsin. There, she discovered Lucinda Williams’ Essence and connected to it deeply, channeling its power for ballads like “Broadview.” The isolation she experienced, and learning to be comfortable with herself, made the rest of the album fall into place. From songs that attempt to sound like The O.C. theme to mellow cuts that take inspiration from Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Scar Tissue” music video, Slow Pulp have made a record with sincerity and booming confidence.
Read more: Every Red Hot Chili Peppers album ranked: From worst to best
Wanting a deeper look into the release, we asked Massey to round up a handful of songs that influenced Yard. See her picks below.
Lucinda Williams – “Lonely Girls”
I spent a lot of time writing some of the early iterations of songs for Yard in a couple of cabins in northern Wisconsin. One of them didn’t have internet but had a CD player boombox and a small collection of CDs. One of them was Lucinda Williams’ 2001 record Essence. The first song is “Lonely Girls,” and it hit me just at the right time. This album was really influential to me for the songwriting on this record, especially the songs that lean a bit more Americana.
Filter – “Take A Picture”
Filter is a project fronted by Richard Patrick from Nine Inch Nails. Henry, our guitarist and producer, showed us that song while we were on tour, and we all fell in love with it. For a while, we always played it while driving into a city on tour. Something about that song feels so right to listen to while looking at a skyline.
Garbage – “Special”
We are big fans of Garbage and Butch Vig’s work in general. Version 2.0 is one of my favorite albums. It’s punchy and abrasive and big in this really palpable way.
The Radio Dept. – “Heaven’s on Fire”
Whenever this song comes on, it brings a smile to my face. I love the Radio Dept.’s songwriting so much. Some of the most infectious melodies out there! I feel like during the making of this record, I got a bit overstimulated from listening to any type of music in general. But their album Clinging to a Scheme can pretty consistently stay in my rotation. I never tire of it.
Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Scar Tissue”
We ended up being really inspired less so by this song but by its music video. The day before we were supposed to turn in the record, we re-recorded our song “Gone 2” because we felt like the version wasn’t in the right world production-wise. It wasn’t until someone put on the RHCP music video where the band is drying out in the desert that we were able to crack the song open in a new way.
Sarah McLachlan – “Stupid”
When I was a kid, I got a DVD with mostly Avril Lavigne music videos on it that came with a shirt purchase from the mall store DEB. The only song that wasn’t Avril was this Sarah McLachlan song. I loved it the first time I heard it when I was 10, and I’ve loved it ever since. For whatever reason, it came back into rotation the past couple of years. It’s one of her more full-fledged rock-leaning songs. I feel like it had a part in inspiring the dynamically big chorus in our song “MUD.”
Death Cab For Cutie – “405”
We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes is such a cool-sounding record. As one of their earlier albums, it has this lo-fi texture to it that I think pairs so well with the songwriting. The melody and guitar riff in the chorus of “405” is something we all love. We got the incredible chance to tour with Death Cab right after we finished the record, and this song was definitely a favorite of theirs that they played live.
Phantom Planet – “California (Demo)”
Henry was watching pretty much the entirety of the show The O.C. while making the record. He was really inspired by the production of the demo version of the song. The guitars sound like they are recorded through a D.I. or something in this kind of bad way, but it sounds so good. He has mentioned that he pretty much tried to make every song on the album sound like “California.”
Fountains of Wayne – “Sink to the Bottom”
Henry was listening to [their self-titled record] a lot when making this album, and also Fountains of Wayne was just one of his favorite bands when he was younger and I think is kind of at the core of a lot of the music we are still drawn to today.
Third Eye Blind – “Graduate”
We all grew up listening to Third Eye Blind. I think this is probably collectively our favorite song of theirs. I think we all are unconsciously influenced by formative music from our childhood when we were discovering music on our own for the first time. There are so many amazing rock songs that were big in the early 2000s that hold up as favorites to this day. “Graduate” is very high at the top of that list.
