Slow Joy

The creative force behind Slow Joy, Esteban Flores saw the alternative rock project emerge as his full-time calling after the loss of a steady day job and while mourning the death of his mother. Flores wove a tapestry of influences—grunge, emo, shoegaze, a childhood spent playing nearly every instrument in his local church—and looked for inspiration in alt rock icons like Nirvana and Modest Mouse and also in the shape-shifting rap of Tyler, the Creator. “What if you had this punk, hip-hoppy sound over grungy, old-school rock tunes?” he wondered. The final product is one of 2025’s most compelling debut albums, A Joy So Slow At Times I Don’t Think It’s Coming, on May 16th via Mick Music.

Flores' 2024 EP Mi Amigo Slow Joy earned critical acclaim from outlets like FLOOD and Chicago Reader, plus a "Best New Band" nod from Dallas Observer and a live session for Audiotree. For his debut album, Flores teamed up with producer Mike Sapone (The Front Bottoms, Oso Oso) and recorded mostly at Ghost Hit Recording in Springfield, Massachusetts. Flores co-wrote several tracks with Josh Varnadore, Zach Degaenato, and Jordan Witzigreuter. He’ll tour the album in 2025, continuing to build his fanbase—whom he prefers to call “homies.” He crafted an album that reflects his Mexican-American heritage, small-town roots, and a lifelong search for meaning. “The universe keeps pulling me back to music,” he says. “I have to honor that.”