Hear Cherry Blossom, the latest song from Slenderbodies
Cherry Blossom cover artwork
“Distorted yet smooth, the band have distilled their hazy sound into an even purer, almost shoegaze form, pouring in the West Coast cool that surrounds them in their hometown and colouring it with splashes of the kind of left-of-centre, indie charm you might hear from Mura Masa or Jadu Heart”
Slenderbodies make their return today with stunning new offering “cherry blossom,” the first release following their debut album Korembi. Comprising of Max Vehuni and Benji Cormack, Slenderbodies showcase the dream pop that has seen them rack up tens of millions of streams online and widescale press support. On “cherry blossom,” the track displays gorgeous falsetto vocals over an intricately crafted arrangement. Speaking on the track, the band state:
“we went in the studio with jeremy from marian hill at the top of the year and he was working with a ton of granular synthesis on vocals and foley samples. if you’re unfamiliar, this kind of synthesis involves taking a really small sample (a “grain”) of a sound and warping it through repetition or stretching. you end up with these really wild sonic characteristics by focusing on such a atomic piece of the sound. we were super inspired by this, so when we sat down to write cherry blossoms we wanted to apply the same technique to our guitar. every synth in the song is some amalgamation of vocals or guitar, granularized and melded with other found sounds. the lyrics and story of cherry blossom reflect this creative process as our protagonist finds themselves looking for the little beauties around them like patterns colors and nature."
Who is Slenderbodies?
slenderbodies first emerged in 2016 with ‘sotto voce,’ a mesmerizing, eight-track EP that took its name from an Italian phrase meaning to speak softly but with emphasis. Recorded remotely with guitarist Benji Cormack living in Santa Cruz and singer/guitarist Max Vehuni residing in Los Angeles (the two had met at college a few years earlier), the collection quickly caught fire on Spotify, where it racked up millions of streams without any label or radio support. The next year, the pair returned with a second EP, ‘fabulist,’ which launched their following into the stratosphere as lead single “anemone” garnered more than 30 million plays across platforms. Though the duo had never planned on performing live, they soon found themselves onstage in front of massive crowds around the world, sharing bills with the likes of Mura Masa, Passion Pit, PVRIS, and Milky Chance. In 2018 and 2019, Vehuni and Cormack released two more EPs (‘fabulist: extended’ and ‘soraya,’ respectively) earning ecstatic reviews on both sides of the pond and landing coveted spots at Austin City Limits and Lollapalooza. The Line Of Best Fit proclaimed that slenderbodies “conjure an immersive world” with their “genre-blurring” music, while Complex described their songs as “subtle but infectious,” and Billboard praised their “intimacy” and “daring.” The band’s 2019 album, ‘komorebi,’ gave us an intoxicating blend of textures and genres and garnered over 36 Million streams. Applauded by the likes of Clash, Consequence of Sound, Wonderland, Highsnobiety, Entertainment Weekly, Flaunt & more, the album showed the band’s remarkable rise from a self-released bedroom project to a touring and streaming powerhouse.
