Hannah, Nick, Sean and Mac are the collective beating heart of Slightest Clue; four self-confessed mismatched bodies that when once plugged in, all bets are off. Their new EP, Carousel, immerses you in that gritty feeling you get in the middle of a mosh pit and, despite all odds, urges you to break free from the sticky grasp the dance floor has on you.

With sonic soundscapes woven with angular guitar riffs, pulsating bass lines, and propulsive drum patterns, Carousel is layered with post-punk revelry. The album was informed by the dovetail in the band members’ personal lives: Mac was going through a break-up and Hannah was in the midst of a budding romance. Then one year later, roles reversed.

We caught up with the band to find out what inspired their latest creation, who the reigning pool champ is and again, why the hell the band works so well. 

Can you give us a brief history of the band? How did you all come together?

Hannah: I first met Mac through my ex-boyfriend, who had been his roommate in Montreal. When Mac needed a bass player in Vancouver, my ex recommended me. Then, Mac asked Sean, his childhood friend, to join. Nick was one of the first people I met when I transferred to UBC. I saw him behind the kit at an open jam in the student union and immediately knew I wanted to play music with him. So when our first drummer and dear friend Elias stepped away from the project in 2021, I knew exactly who to call.  

Tell us about your new EP, Carousel. What inspired it and what can listeners expect?

Nick: Honestly these are my favourite five songs that we’ve made.

Mac: Hannah and I were both experiencing breakups and some big life shifts at the time of writing, so it kind of worked into a concept EP that traces the phases of a relationship from the budding romance to the bittersweet end. 

Sean: I’ve never been more proud of our work on this EP. I feel it pushed everyone’s songwriting capabilities as well as everyone’s skill at their own instruments. Boston and Said The Whale were big influences for me on this EP in a way where I wanted people to sing parts of the song where there are no lyrics when we were performing.

“These Days” is an edgy and raw track with a dark-pop element. Can you tell us more about what this track is about and what inspired it?

Mac: This track felt like a great opener sonically and started as a demo that me and my roommate wrote together. We crafted the chorus in one night – after a night out – and I don’t normally record that way, so it was fun to remove the stakes and get loose as opposed to my usual sober and clinical approach. I remember playing this super weird reversed guitar thing from the demo off my laptop and everyone thought it was cool, so we tried to make a new section out of the reversed guitar and I relearned to play it forwards. 

Hannah: I really loved (and still really love) how Mac approached verse one; flashes of dialogue, imagery of rotten fruit, punchy rhythmic delivery… altogether, it’s like a nursery rhyme gone wrong, which in some ways is a metaphor for both the whole project and navigating romantic relationships in your early 20s, lol. It’s definitely the weirdest thing we’ve put out.