A three hour flight; ear buds charged for business, and a few new quality tunes downloaded. Amongst them was a true classic pleasure, the beautifully languid, rocky Slow Down by Pretty Mafia. The almost constantly screaming, scrawling brat 2 rows up barely made a scratch in my invincible shield of chill sounds. On top, no food or drink available and troublesome turbulence. The bounces might have affected my typing skills (sorry), but with my head firmly engaged in different clouds, I smashed that immediate annoyance.

Slow Down is one of those tunes that if you could cut through it, the music would be layered in a strata of classic influences. After having the tune on my brain for over an hour, I got the pedigree of the likes of sassy rebel Patti Smith, the disrespectful arrogance of The Rolling Stones, the cheeky antics of The Who, the supreme confidence of Oasis and a heap of other little twists and snippets all spread into this tune.

I really rated Pretty Mafia after listening and reviewing their single Benny Blanko a while back, they have now completely nailed my admiration with Slow Down. The new track is a more immediate and catchy banger than its predecessor but it keeps its complexity and mix of shiny and more hard edges.

The song theme to my ears is of one of a realisation that a special relationship is in trouble, and it’s time to reassess and think about withdrawing things. Always a tricky decision and a horrible time. The music around this track is an urgent, dirty but melodic bluesy rocker.

I know from those Pretty Mafia guys there is more incoming. Look out for it.

Chris R

* images taken from the band’s social media