London-based artist Samuel Slater is the first to admit that he is still figuring out his sound, but his latest release ‘Vacate’ firmly sticks him on our radar.
When lockdown hit, Slater, like so many others, took the time to reminisce and reflect. ‘Vacate’ emerged from this period, seeing Slater lamenting on a past relationship. Make no mistake, there are no rose-tinted glasses here, instead, he ruminates on the idea that changing his physical or geographical space will change his headspace, demanding positive change with his rapid-fire lyrical.
The song opens with an ear-worm guitar riff building up to Slater’s slick vocals. While it’s not a long song, coming in around the two-minute mark, it does give an excellent snapshot of Slater’s talent as he moves with nimble ease between his spit-fire hook and resounding chorus. The fast-paced sections amplify the sensation of feeling trapped and needing to escape while the chorus’ drawn-out notes mirror Slater’s frustration and add a layer of aggression to the song.
Now that we are out of the rebounding lockdowns, artists have returned to playing live and this is something that Slater had in mind while writing the track, speaking about the track he says “I honestly wanted to make something that’d be fun to play live…I grew up listening to rock music and guitar solos were a big thing for me, so the little tremolo moment towards the back-end of the song was a wish-fulfillment thing, but I think it also adds a catharsis to the song.”
‘Vacate’ certainly is a song filled with catharsis, from the ear-worm guitar riff that ripples throughout the song to Slater’s lively lyrical delivery, ‘Vacate’ feels like an outpouring of pent-up frustration. This isn’t his only release of the year, his upcoming EP, So Nostalgic, is released on the 15th July.
Words by Ella McLaren
Support The Indiependent
We’re trying to raise £200 a month to help cover our operational costs. This includes our ‘Writer of the Month’ awards, where we recognise the amazing work produced by our contributor team. If you’ve enjoyed reading our site, we’d really appreciate it if you could donate to The Indiependent. Whether you can give £1 or £10, you’d be making a huge difference to our small team.