Chloe Slater announces her debut album Riot Youth, arriving October 9 via Stolen Juice (AWAL), alongside its poignant new single ‘Southern Youth’, out now. A bittersweet reflection on growing up in forgotten coastal towns and the complicated relationship we develop with the places we longed to escape, the track offers another striking glimpse into one of the UK’s most vital young songwriting voices. Alongside the announcement, Slater has also unveiled details of her biggest headline tour to date, commencing this November.

Following the release of single ‘UGLY’ – a frenetic, chant-like dissection of consumerism and modern identity – ‘Southern Youth’ widens the emotional scope of Riot Youth. Built around swelling indie-rock and Slater’s unmistakably candid lyricism, the track traces the emotional journey from frustrated teenager to homesick adulthood. Raised in Bournemouth, a seaside town she describes as both beautiful and deeply isolating, Slater captures the strange duality of leaving somewhere behind only to romanticise it once you’re gone. Beneath the song’s warmth sits a broader reflection on youth and the stagnation felt across some towns throughout modern Britain.

“’Southern Youth’ is a tale of the classic angsty teenager to homesick adult pipeline,” Slater explains. “Bournemouth is a beautiful seaside town, but I think it’s easy as a teen to feel trapped in your hometown, where the new bands rarely come and play, the winters leave the town almost deserted, and the nickname is ‘God’s waiting room’. Since I was sixteen I’ve been pretty desperate to live in a city, and I moved to Manchester as soon as I got the chance. After experiencing life in the city, I suppose in a lot of ways I feel more grateful to have grown up there now than I did when I left.”