Slowcore
Slowcore is a quiet, very slow form of indie rock with sparse arrangements, soft vocals and bleak or melancholy lyrics.
It developed in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s, partly as a reaction to the loudness and speed of grunge. Songs move at a crawl, with clean guitars, minimal drumming, long pauses and hushed singing, so small changes carry a lot of weight. It is close to sadcore, a name often used for the same music, and it is starker than dream pop.
Artists it is known for: Low, Red House Painters, Codeine, Duster.
- Family
- Alternative & Indie
- On Spotify
- A current genre
- What it is
- A genre
- From
- United States, late 1980s to early 1990s
- Also called
- sadcore
- Trackify listeners who play it
- 7%
About 5,900 of 83,000 Trackify listeners with public profiles have slowcore among their top artists of the last four weeks. Rounded; updated 13 November 2026.
Slowcore artists
Mazzy Star
Slowdive
Duster
sign crushes motorist
Dead Calm
my bloody valentine
Have A Nice Life
salvia palth
Take Care
mthu
The slowcore artists most Trackify listeners have in their top fifty. Each opens on Spotify.
Sources
The definition is written for this site from open sources, and was checked against them on 13 November 2026.