Pale Saints complete their series of 30th anniversary reissues with the release of an expanded edition of their third and final album, Slow Buildings.
By 1994, they were the quartet of Meriel Barham (vocals / guitar), Chris Cooper (drums), Graeme Naysmith (guitar) and Colleen Browne (bassist), who having just left The Heart Throbs replaced founding member Ian Masters who had departed the band to form Spoonfed Hybrid with AC Temple’s Chris Trout.
Primed by the brilliant single “Fine Friend” (a song adapted from 1981’s “Poison in the Airwaves” by Scottish band Persian Rugs), third album Slow Buildings shows the band still venturing forward - this time, keeping the experimentation and guitar fuzz of their early records whilst opening-up their songs so Meriel’s vocals could hit new, pop heights.
As with the 30th anniversary reissues of their previous two albums, this special pressing sees this long out of print record being remastered and expanded to include a wealth of bonus material that’s sure to delight fans. Working with mastering engineer Kevin Vanbergen, this new edition runs over two discs with the album being packaged with the Fine Friend EP and a great selection of previously unheard tracks and demos as handpicked by the band.
Featuring singles “Now They'll Sleep”, “Seal My Fate”, and “Super-Connected”, the resultant King was a step on, a deceptively complex album where the quartet had chosen artistic growth over commerciality. Their lyrics took more of a political and personal bent, while musically it was heavier, in part due to Gail's muscular playing style and more deft guitar interplay between Tanya and Tom. SPIN Magazine saying at the time that it marked their evolution from “indie darlings to rock contenders.”
