Slowdance bring keyboard and guitar and a rhythm section that can flip from a new wave throb to a spaghetti western rumble as easily as it delivers punchy indie-pop, all anchored by vocalist Quay Quinn-Settel’s demure cheek and soprano dramatics. She recalled France Gall, and they did Stereolab, because language still counts (even the set-closing cover of New Order’s “Consent” was not without its tie to France). Says Quinn-Settel: “I learned how to read in French before learning in English. It’s half of me, it wouldn’t feel right to sing in English alone. Plus the way the language shapes the mouth changes the timber of my voice, so it’s nice to have both.”

When kids from the 80s dreamed about people from the 60s thinking about life in the future.

Album out on Mexican Summer!

backwords blends modern psychedelics with folk rock, 60s pop and a myriad other sonic surprises. Like a bluebird fluttering through the prairie, backwords delivers gentle, lazy melodies that stick to the tongue and cannot be forgotten. And like a vigilant hawk nesting atop a New York skyscraper, there is a fury—a swooping darker underside that backwords explores at the drop of a dime. It is and is not quite The Beach Boys meeting Daniel Johnston meeting The Velvet Underground meeting Wilco and all sharing a mellow joint…

Based out of Brooklyn, backwords is rooted in city grit but rides the concrete waves with a cowboy’s heart. The band is a regular fixture of the New York City scene and has played countless gigs over the last three years at venues and spaces such as Mercury Lounge, Cake Shop, Glasslands, Sycamore, Cameo Gallery, The American Folk Art Museum, etc. They have played official showcases at 2009, 2010 and 2011′s CMJ Music Marathon as well as 2010′s Northside Festival and were recently named a “Top 10 Emerging Artist” in the “Alt-Folk” category by The Deli Magazine NYC.

backwords has toured the United States extensively in the past few years from NYC to LA and has played with such bands as: These United States, Le Loup, Freelance Whales, Dinosaur Feathers, Darwin Deez, Warpaint, Pepi Ginsberg, Tiny Animals, Country Mice, The Beets, Shark?, The Old Ceremony, The Deep Dark Woods, Craft Spells, Hosannas, Spirit Family Reunion, Turbo Fruits, Pujol, Radical Dads etc…

Their upcoming album (Spring 2012 release), “By the Neck,” takes new twists and psychedelic turns as it explores fresh creative territory mixing surf garage sounds with Pink Floyd spazz-outs and gentle Byrds-like vocal layers. It is an album that works cohesively as a whole yet can be picked apart for its catchy, finger tapping individual tracks. It is both vintage and excitingly new at the same time.