Adelaide’s pop-punk duo TOWNS, Aston Valladares and Dan Steinert, celebrate their 10th anniversary as friends with today’s release of their debut album, sentimental slowdown, via Farmer & The Owl/BMG. For a band that first connected over a shared love of nostalgia and pop-punk riffs, this album is both a time capsule of their experiences together and an anthem to growing up on their own terms.
Reflecting on the journey that led to sentimental slowdown, the band shares “We first met on our first day of uni, dreaming of achieving just a fraction of the incredible things we’ve been fortunate enough to do. This album feels like a chapter in the story of everything we’ve experienced together,” the band shares.
The focus track, ‘can’t blame yr dad’, sung from the perspective of watching yourself through a lens, as if your own friend, captures the complex emotions that come with self-awareness and growth. Aston describes it as, “a song about seeing myself in a rut, wanting to make it better, but realising it’s not up to me—it’s up to them.”
In sentimental slowdown, the duo confronts the tension between the urge to grow up and the comfort of holding on to the past. This theme, first explored in the title track, resonates throughout the album: “‘Grow up and let go’? No way. We’ll chill out and reminisce, thanks,” the band says, celebrating nostalgia as a refuge rather than a hurdle.
The duo’s sentimental slowdown tour kicks off this weekend bringing nostalgic, high-energy vibe to audiences across Australia. Known for their infectious energy, TOWNS fans can expect to hear new tracks across the album and a lineup of crowd-favourites.
‘sentimental slowdown’ is out now via Farmer & The Owl / BMG.
