Following live dates at Supersonic Paris, Beyond The Pale and Windmill Brixton, Kildare's Blue Slate return with 'Melody in Melancholy' – a sprawling, fizzing indie banger filled with high-octane moments and built for sticky-floored clubs.
Coming hot off the heels of their debut EP 'This Is How I Sleep At Night' (Blowtorch Records, early 2025), the track showcases Blue Slate's ability to craft soundscapes between post-punk, alternative rock and shoegaze. Biting guitar tones, punching drums and grounding bass give the track driving direction under John Harney's gritty, gravelly vocals, moving from unrelenting fuzzy grit to an ethereal, shoegaze-leaning middle-eight. It's a sound that captures bubbling visceral urgency whilst retaining atmospheric, emotive flair.
The song itself reflects on how we sell ourselves to different things, whether to people or substances. As the band explain: "The lyrics are based around questioning the reason we always go back to someone or something that has harmed us in one way or another, attempting to figure out if it's due to hatred or due to comfort." It's this kind of emotional honesty that elevates Blue Slate beyond mere noise-making into something more lasting.
Blue Slate founders Harney and Pierce Devine met as kids, bonding over matching Brian Jones-style haircuts and hours spent digging through CD collections spanning KISS to Nirvana, metal to classic rock. Their music reflects those wide-ranging influences: elements of The Velvet Underground, Sparklehorse, and Grandaddy sit alongside modern grunge and post-punk sensibilities.
Stream the new single below
