My January has – like yours, I suspect – started quietly.

Lots of reading (four down!); lots of telly (Sex Education and the Fyre Festival documentary on Netflix; the new, and sadly final, season of my beloved You’re The Worst). Catch-ups with my oldest, dearest friends. Sweaters (multiple) in the sales. Trying to resist the siren song of a takeaway.

This week, that all changes.

There’s my first gig of the year; followed, in relatively short course, by my second. A night at the opera. A press launch. A couple of dinners out. A Saturday trip to soft play, if I’m lucky.

I am ready.

Slothrust are an alternative rock band born in Boston, now based in LA. Their music fuses elements of 90s grunge with songwriter Leah Wellbaum’s often cryptic, usually poetic, always evocative lyrics. The track “7:30am”, “I’m gonna leave you anyway” delivered with Wellbaum’s trademark casual resignation, sets the tone as the theme to my forementioned favourite anti-romcom, but it was showrunner Stephen Falk’s penchant for dropping the perfect track into the perfect scene (the clattering, stream-of-consciousness “Like A Child Hiding Behind Your Tombstone” as the season four finale blacked out? yes please) that sealed the deal.

Latest album The Pact, with its beefed-up melodies and lyrical imagery that is at once nihilistic and childlike, would be my #4 of 2018 if I ever got around to it. I’ve been humming “Birthday Cake” since early August.

The band kick off their first ever European headline tour tomorrow night, right here in Glasgow, and are marking the occasion with a new remix of The Pact lead single “Double Down” by Nicki Minaj/Kelly Rowland collaborator and fine example of Scots rhyming slang Willy Beaman. And by answering a few questions for Last Year’s Girl, which quite frankly I’m still fangirling about. Will I be seeing you at Stereo tomorrow?

LAST YEAR’S GIRL: Who’s in the band, and how did you get together?
LEAH WELLBAUM: The band is myself (hi, this is Leah), Will Gorin on the drums, Kyle Bann on the bass. We all met in college.

Three words to describe your sound…
Groovy Magic Surprise

You’ve already toured the new record extensively back home in the States. What are you looking forward to most about the European shows – and what can audiences expect?
These shows will be our first time headlining in the U.K. and Europe. We love to play music for new audiences and feel that exchange of energy. You can expect a dynamic show from three people who truly love to perform.

I was reading that you co-wrote some of the tracks on The Pact for the first time. What was that like as an experience, and did it help you unlock parts of your sound that you hadn’t discovered before?
There is only one co-write on this record and it is the song “Double Down”. I wrote it with my friend Jon Buscema. We did not go into the session with the intention to write something for Slothrust, but after working on this more pop-leaning track I saw how it could work really nicely with the band if we put our own spin on it. Since living in LA it has been really fun collaborating with different artists and producers. I have never felt attached to genre and it’s satisfying to me to try a wide span of things.

What was it like working with [producer] Billy Bush and spending more time on production and engineering on the album?
Billy has brilliant ears and really understood our dynamic. He had great ideas for textures and encouraged us to push each track to its full potential. I am so grateful we had time to experiment in the studio and not be too precious about things. This is the most fun I have ever had making an album.

One of my favourite things about Slothrust is the really vivid imagery and poetry of your lyrics. Where do those images come from?
I have a background in poetry and creative writing. I also love graphic novels and spend a lot of time making illustrations as well. In my art and writing I like to be specific and tap into the curiosity we felt during childhood. I am obsessed with the magical and feel inspired to write lyrics that evoke feelings we do not have words for in English.

What’s next for Slothrust once you get back home?
More touring!

I fell in love with your music through a TV show soundtrack. What will you be binging during your European tour?
I’ll probably be watching The Magicians for the fourth time. I’m an obsessive re-watcher of things that I love. My favourite tv shows are ones you can really live inside.

And what are you listening to at the moment?
Billy Joel Radio on Sirius XM. Also Billie Holiday. Two Billies.

Slothrust on tour:
TOMORROW! GLASGOW, Stereo
23/01 MANCHESTER, Deaf Institute
24/01 LONDON, Boston Music Room
25/01 BRIGHTON, The Hope & Ruin
26/01 BIRMINGHAM, Sunflower Lounge