Darth Lefty 

That's a really cool bike. XC bikes always look purposeful with the high seat and low stack.

I can see how you would spin out with the stock gearing and smaller slicks. It's kind of a traditional problem with MTB commuters but with the bike you chose the traditional fix (hybrid size chain rings) isn't in the cards. There are a few aftermarket cassettes (e13 and Garbaruk for example) with 9t top gears. The strong XC racing guys use 36+ front sprockets but a bigger sprocket loses anti-squat so that's a trade. If you look at 1x gravel bikes they often have 40 or 42 in front, if your bike can clear it.