Flume celebrates 10th anniversary of debut album with archival demo ‘Slugger 1.4’

Today marks exactly 10 years since Flume (aka Harley Streten) released his eponymous debut album. To celebrate, the EDM trailblazer has shared an archival demo titled ‘Slugger 1.4 [2014 Export.WAV]’.

On his decision to celebrate the anniversary with his ‘Slugger’ demo – which, as the full title implies, was made in 2014 – Streten said in a press release: “[I] made this one in Paris [and] always loved this demo but it never quite made it onto an album. I figured now that it’s 10 years since my first album was released it would be a good time to share. Hope you like it.”

Have a listen to ‘Slugger 1.4 [2014 Export.WAV]’ below:

‘Flume’ was first released on November 9, 2012 via Future Classic. It featured the singles ‘On Top’ (featuring T.Shirt), ‘Sleepless’ (featuring Jezzabell Doran) and ‘Holdin On’, and also sported collaborations with Chet Faker, Moon Holiday and George Maple. A deluxe edition followed a year later, adding new tracks, remixes and flips that featured the likes of Ghostface Killah, Killer Mike, Freddie Gibbs and Isabella Manfredi.

The album was a smash hit, peaking at Number One on the ARIA Charts and going on to be certified 2x Platinum (as well as Gold in New Zealand). It won Streten the 2013 J Award for Australian Album Of The Year, as well as four ARIA Awards (plus an additional four nominations) and four AIR Awards (plus two nominations).

Streten is currently gearing up for his first Australian tour since 2019, which is set to kick off this Friday (November 11) in Perth. The full tour – which includes all three dates of the touring Spilt Milk festival – will take in seven headline shows across Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Hobart, with support coming from Channel Tres, Toro y Moi, MAY-A and Vera Blue.

The tour comes in support of Streten’s third album as Flume, ‘Palaces’, which arrived back in May. It featured singles ‘Say Nothing’ (featuring MAY-A), ‘Sirens’ (featuring Caroline Polachek), ‘Hollow’ (featuring Emma Louise), ’Escape’ (with Quiet Bison and featuring Kučka) and the title track (featuring Damon Albarn).

In a four-star review, NME’s Hannah Mylrea wrote that the album sees Streten’s “distinctive sonics imbued with an ethereal twist”, and noted that “this change in pace makes for a welcome modification to the Flume sound, which is elevated by his rich, newfound sonics”.

So far, the album has earned Streten six nominations at this year’s ARIA Awards, and two for the upcoming J Awards. Also this year, Streten linked up with Sycco for her single ‘Ripple’.