Slow Joy – the solo project of Dallas based Chicano artist Esteban Flores – shared the news today of a new studio EP Mi Amigo Slow Joy to be released on 7th June, 2024 via Mick Music. The EP was produced by Mike Sapone (Oso Oso, The Front Bottoms, Grouplove) at New Jersey’s Barbershop Studios and along with the news, Slow Joy is releasing the “Pulling Teeth” single and music video – listen HERE and watch HERE.
The song is the first from the forthcoming new EP, Slow Joy’s first new music of 2024 and Flores describes the “Pulling Teeth” as “basically an apology to my wife for me not being the easiest person to deal with all the time” along with being an expression of gratitude for her patience and support. “It’s one of those songs where it’s like, ‘Please don’t give up on me; I know I’m taking a little bit.’”
Mi Amigo Slow Joy is the second EP for Flores and follows 2023’s Wildflower EP. The passion and heart that Flores pours into Slow Joy shine even brighter on his second EP. The arrangements are crisper and each instrument is more defined within the simmering mixes, leading to poppier moments as well as more sonic highs and lows that are bigger and more emotional. Flores credits Sapone for helping him get there. “I’m such a creature of habit when it comes to creative things, that I’ll just keep reproducing the same thing in the same room,” Flores said. “It was good to be in a different spot entirely.” Sapone fostered an encouraging environment and working with a solid team at the studio allowed Flores to focus solely on the creative process and pushed him to refine his songwriting. “I had never gotten to a place where I had the time to experiment—or felt safe to experiment—in a nice studio,” he explains. “This time, it felt really open.” His growth as a songwriter and musician can be heard on new single “Pulling Teeth” – a Foo Fighters-meets-Pixies track with towering choruses.
Flores first started releasing singles under the moniker Slow Joy in 2020 and by 2022 the project started to gain momentum via a pair of singles – “Crawling” and “Soft Slam” – that accumulated millions of views on TikTok and secured impressive playlist placements. The music was and continues to be evocative. These early singles featured a sensitive combination of soaring space rock, noisy shoegaze, and dynamic post-rock. “I only shared my music because I wanted people to hear it, not because I was trying to get a career,” Flores says. “Lo and behold, the universe then let me have a career out of it.” Despite the initial success, Flores was unsure about pursuing a career in music, but while talking with a therapist to process his mother’s death, he had a change of heart.
While Wildflower had Flores dealing with his mom’s passing and looking at external influences impacting his life, Mi Amigo Slow Joy has him turning the lens at himself. The EP’s visuals and title, Mi Amigo Slow Joy, are also meaningful to Flores, as they represent him making sure his art reflects his Hispanic heritage and culture. “Naming it Mi Amigo Slow Joy is like, ‘Hey, this is rock music. It’s serious, and it’s important, and it’s me.’ And one thing that is me is being a Mexican-American person, and being proud of that culture, and showing it off.”
Look for Mi Amigo Slow Joy on 7th June via Mick Music, pre-order/pre-save HERE, listen to “Pulling Teeth” now HERE and watch the video HERE.
