Slow Drain Is Finding Beauty in the Little Things Through New Release 'Untitled' + New EP 2027
Slow Drain brings honesty, raw emotion and beauty to the “little things” in post-hardcore
Canadian post-hardcore band Slow Drain is for people who won’t let the world turn them numb.
The four-piece commits to this mindset by having a fearless commitment to vulnerability and a raw, unfiltered honesty in their sound and lyrics. Slow Drain is pushing past genre-nostalgia and diving into modern anxieties by letting their emotions breathe and ensuring their shows are a safe place to feel every emotion at once.
Each member of the band brings a unique sound and perspective, and if even one of them were removed, Slow Drain would be an entirely different band. “Ben brings honesty and the mind behind the music. He won't let a lyric hide behind a metaphor; he’s willing to say the thing that scares people most through his lyrics, and he tells a story with the music he creates in Slow Drain".
"AJ brings urgency to the kit; he plays with an energy, technical ability, and power that you can feel when you see the band live. Filip finds the melodic thread inside something heavy. Always pushing forward a hook that grabs the listener's ear. Cam makes sure the songs land the way we mean them to, from the sequencing to how we talk about them,” they said.
Bassist Cameron Smith said the band focuses on being “numb” as a concept because in today’s world, that’s just easier. “[Our song] "The Death of Me" says it outright: “take the right pill, stay the same.” Numbing yourself is always an option, the easy one. Slow Drain is us refusing that offer out loud, to the public, so maybe they can refuse it too.”
Their newest single, “Untitled,” responds back to “Death of Me” with: "No one knows what it takes to wake up every day, to carry all this weight, but I won't surrender." Their songs live in the gap between surviving and living, and they don't veer away from that heavy feeling.
With musical influences including Alexisonfire, Underoath, Silverstein, and Story of the Year, along with the emotional influences of Thursday, Thrice, and Touche Amore, Slow Drain developed a sound pushing the genre forward. With their willingness to blend atmospheres and song structures, their songs often start from a feeling that doesn’t have words yet.
“That's the actual starting point. The music and melodies come next, built to hold that feeling. The words come last, once we know what we're actually trying to say. All with the intent to broadcast that feeling at its core,” Smith said.
Slow Drain is carving out their own space in the current post-hardcore genre. “We're just trying to ride the coattails of nostalgia. We're writing about what’s happening now. The specific exhaustion of this moment, and we're not afraid to let a song breathe that same mantra. It's derivative of early post-hardcore, but it adds elements from other genres and spaces,” Smith told TOP8. They’re heavy where it counts, but with a voice of honesty and openness.
Slow Drain is for the person who sees the beauty in the little things - the person who walks home from work instead of driving. The friends who show up to help you move. The ones who still care, no matter what.
“That's where character actually shows up,” Smith said. “Nobody's tested by the big dramatic moment. They're tested by whether they show up when you feel like giving up, when you’re tired, when someone truly needs you. Those unglamorous choices are real, and they don't get written about enough.” The world often rewards those who don’t always make good choices. Slow Drain’s music is for those small acts that no one claps for - because being a good person is important, even if no one notices.
Slow Drain’s shows are intended to be a “safe space to feel everything at once,” and they strive to create a community of mosh pits and people screaming lyrics that mean something to them. No judgment. Everyone who attends a Slow Drain show is “allowed to feel the weight of things instead of numbing to get by, and that they're not carrying it alone. We’re here for one another,” Smith said.
Their newest single, “Untitled” is about “refusing to let someone else's voice win,” according to Smith. “The whole song is built around one line someone else said to tear you down, leaving you to feel "you've got nothing at all," and the answer is "don't believe them." You got this. Find a way to get past and move away from those who aren’t “for you”. That's what life is about: moving forward and making it through, despite everything thrown your way.”
The track wasn’t given a proper title because the band didn’t want to give listeners the answer, or tell them what to feel. “If we name it too specifically, people stop bringing their own experience to it,” Smith said. “We wanted anyone who’s felt outnumbered or gaslit by someone with power over them to see themselves in it, without us telling them who to picture.”
Their upcoming EP is due out in early 2027, and “Untitled” is now available everywhere on streaming platforms. Look out for a tour in 2027 across Canada and Europe in support of the release and to bring their sound to new audiences globally.
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