The Slowdown, a 6-piece band from Kansas City, just put the finishing touches on their first full-length album. The debut is a riff-based, roots-inflected, electronic-infused, and deftly experimental take on full-bodied rock, equal parts Jerry Cantrell, Jason Faulkner, Jeff Tweedy, and Jim James, and laced with bits of Self, Led Zeppelin, and M83. Frontman Sam Hoskins and keyboard player Joe Hoskins got their start as members of the regionally renowned rock/pop band Elevator Division (Second Nature Records), which The Pitch anointed "one of the region's best acts of the past decade." With A, The Slowdown showcases powerful anthemic songs that build around the voice of Sam Hoskins, which is "a profound thing" according to Hugh Welsh of The Pitch. Around Hoskins' vocals, the songs expand in the hands of three guitarists who execute smoothly-crafted songs with layered guitar work that doesn't get in its own way.

This December, the band is presenting their debut full-length album A, recorded at Earth Analog studios near Champaign,IL (owned by Matt Talbott of Hum), mastered at the Blasting Room in Ft. Collins by Jason Livermore, mixed and engineered by Jeremy Wilson, and produced by The Slowdown.