Slowcoaching Gets Lost to Find Himself on 'I’m In My Brain Again'

The project of musician Dean Valentino, Slowcoaching has always existed in the margins , jangling hazy melodies that feel half remembered, half dreamed. Wanderer Mag nailed it when they described the sound as 

“a slow burning, jangling genre hybrid with an unbelievably cool haze on its production.” 

On 'I’m In My Brain Again', that haze thickens into something immersive and deeply personal.

The album’s origins trace back to 2020, a year that forced many artists inward, but for Valentino, the isolation came with a sharp reset. A broken wrist, the sudden death of live music, and a scrapped album’s worth of material pushed him back into the bedroom studio with nothing but time, uncertainty, and a restless mind. Rather than cling to momentum, he wiped the slate clean.

Free from expectation, Valentino leaned into the chaos. Working alongside longtime collaborator James Freeman, Slowcoaching rebuilt itself, guided by the crushing melancholy of The Cure, the art rock unease of Deerhunter, and the influence of Beach House.

“I’ve always been a notoriously bad sleeper” 

Starting out with songs like ‘Younger’ capturing fleeting youth and feeling like you're growing older, and reflecting on getting older. ‘Toothache’ broods in ambiguity, its tension beneath the surface about dreaming about something which we don't know is real.

Tracks like 'Mirrors' and 'Woods' soften the anxiety with intimacy and longing, reflecting on friendships, and the hope that connection might offer some kind of escape or clarity. Overall, the lyrics feel restless but honest, conversational on the surface, yet loaded with doubt and tenderness.

The album’s emotional climax arrives with its title track and closer, ‘I’m In My Brain Again’ a gut punch that refuses resolution. Hypnotic and abrupt, the song drifts through shifting time signatures and fuzzy background noise, ending not with closure, but a leaving a longing question.

“It’s ridiculous, nonsensical fun” 

In a musical landscape obsessed with immediacy and polish, Slowcoaching takes the long way around, trusting atmosphere, patience, and emotional truth. 'I’m In My Brain Again' earns your attention slowly, somewhere between the moment you turn the lights off and the second sleep finally arrives.