Symbol Soup Slow Puncture

The emerging songwriter Michael Rea under the moniker of Symbol Soup releases his debut album Slow Puncture via Sad Club. Tender and conversational, Symbol Soup has crafted a wonderfully candid and approachable debut album melding indie rock with folk and country elements intertwined.Seeing his hometown Milton Keynes through the lens of a small American town, Rea’s tracks portray a Pacific Northwest fantasy ideal.

Written during the summer of 2021, Michael notes: “A ‘Slow Puncture’ is the perfect example of a problem that gets thought about every day and left unfixed. A tyre with a slow puncture needs constant effort and maintenance just to keep moving, but usually doesn’t get fixed until it’s too late.” Holding up the mirror to himself, weaving through ‘Slow Puncture’ is the theme of living with your own limitations or flaws. As Rea states, this is done so “ideally through acceptance, other times through pure laziness.” This metaphor carries through to the process of growing older, with a gradual loss of substance as time passes.

Setting the tone for the enchanting and introspective journey, ‘Slow Puncture’ opens with “I’m a cloud that’s procrastinating raining”. For fans of Hovvdy, Alex G and Soccer Mommy.