By Anthony Moore
Slow Joy the solo project of Dallas based artist, Esteban Flores brought their take on the midwest emo genre to the Mission Theater in Portland, Oregon this past Wednesday. Flores mixes melancholic lyrics of heartbreak with upbeat guitar riffs, working through songs of love and loss. You can hear the influences of emo bands of the early 2000’s in his songs, using clean vocals to convey the emotions of his experience, with his passion really showing through in his live performance. Within minutes of taking the stage he jumped into the crowd to kick off the set – this early move ensured that the crowd were engaged and were along with Flores for the ride through out.
The Mission Theater has an intimate feel, with the audience pressed up against the stage. Being inches away from the band made it easy for the audience to connect and feed off Flores energy. The set while feeling short, Slow Joy made the most of it, not wasting a moment of time. The over all energy was kinetic, building up an fun and powerful experience.
Slow Joy is on tour supporting the release of their E.P. Mi Amigo Slow Joy while providing tour opening support for the band Free Throw. The tour still has a few more stops this June with Free Thow and will be performing at the the “Ohio is for Lovers” festival in Cincinnati, Ohio on September 7th. Full details of upcoming shows and links to check out the current E.P. are available on the bands website.
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