The Slaps
Declaration Of Loss

Declaration of Loss is the first LP by the very young yet already seasoned The Slaps from Cittadella (PD), from the pure cement-ridden countryside of the Veneto province that typically does not offer particularly enticing opportunities to young people. The band, however, found it in Dischi Soviet Studio which decided to spread the anger and need of the four members to react to a too static environment, shrouded in its typical fog, on November 25th of last year.

As clearly declared by the title, during listening you will be accompanied by a sense of bewilderment, uncertainty in points of reference and events, and a crystal-clear bitterness.
However, the group never throws in the towel, neither in the face of life's difficulties and circumstances, nor musically.

With the strength of over 100 live performances at multiple renowned local festivals and the release of an EP in 2014, the band brings the same passion to the studio that accompanies them live.
Alongside this, in the sound of The Slaps we find an evolving technical experience and base for sure, but already strongly consolidated in certain aspects, showing influences of genres like garage punk prominently, alternative-rock, indie from the 2000s, and '90s grunge.

Paolo's voice well expresses the continuous transition between the roughness of the twenties (You Are Nothing) and the sonic and intentional maturity of colleagues active for a longer time (I'm to Blame).
Sebastiano on drums sets his well-solid, always supportive rock-style rhythmic carpet, while Marco on bass reinforces that desire and irrepressibility to move your feet to the rhythm.

Piercarlo on guitar has fun between garage and indie incursions (Surf 1975), grunge (My Lack of Will where he even reminds us of the Smashing Pumpkins and Radiohead), more essential and direct punk (Run, Get a Chance).

The tracks follow one another in a single articulated and never predictable discourse, with sharper and more pressing peaks (the acidic scream opening of You Are Nothing, Waves, Run and the finale of Get a Chance that comes like a punch) and moments of marked reflection and awareness (No Place to Go, the torment of I'm to Blame, the melancholic My Lack of Will).
The Sand opens to future horizons, to even more structured and variable tracks, and to more decisive experimentation.

Declaration of Loss is an album without pretension, in the most genuine and pure sense of the term. The band plays primarily for themselves, without embellishments, aware of not wanting or needing to prove something to someone, and finds a certain therapeutic benefit in doing so, because the album breathes and conveys freedom. The Slaps play anger, but throughout the duration of the album they reveal that it is the mirror of acquired awareness, and a necessary passage that opens paths toward change and the search for better ways outside the fog of the suburbs.

Review by Alessia Pilotto