Something of a recorded debut, the single brings out the uniqueness of his sound.

Slow Cooked has long been a figure of intrigue and an authority on recycling on the London gig circuit. His own performances are beguiling and hilarious, songs of badger-related trauma reflections on the British job market, unusually driven by his lead cello. With said cello, he has also played his part (under his own name Louie Barby) on countless great sets and releases from friends including Skydaddy and heka. Having only had a mysterious selection of demos on Soundcloud previously, ‘Mice in Jeans’ marks his official debut single, coming ahead of the launch of an EP, ‘Plastic Values,’ next month.

Familiar in tone, the single nonetheless marks a definition evolution of the Slow Cooked sound, something remarkably unique. There is almost a trap element to the surrealist rap that opens the song, hip hop meeting Irvine Welsh as he lists off, “mice in jeans, mice in jeggings, mice in your CR7s.” The abject comedy and animal imagery is familiar from other memorable Slow Cooked tracks, but the production pushes it to a new level.

As the song moves along, a definite post-punk strain is to be found, a louder delivery recalling that of Squid singer Ollie Judge. Like Squid at their best, Barby harnesses that volume, feeding it through disintegrating repeats of earlier verses that evoke the mental unravelling that accompanies the visions of dressed mice. A forceful statement, certainly Barby’s most powerful recording to date, it is an exciting trail for his coming ‘Plastic Values’ EP.