Here's a review of an old band very definitely returning to form from the latest Nightshift. In the copy I said that this was a single and B-side, whereas it transpires it's 2 different singles released at once, which just seems stupid. The whole concept of a single is meaningless now, isn't it, so I've just left it as it was. Sue me.
SELF HELP – SPACEMAN (Self-released)
When Self Help’s rhythm section left, we thought it was all over. Lizzie Couves (bass) and Silke Blansjaar (drums) brought such an enticing mixture of laidback swagger and insistent precision you weren’t sure whether the songs were slumping down in a pub booth like a tipsy friend or screaming at you like a square-bashing sergeant major. Perhaps it took a brief period for the band to settle in as a quintet, but this single is a joy, and as strong as anything they released with the old line-up.
The title track is about the slow asphyxiation of childhood dreams in the vacuum of adult life, but its huge glam guitar and reverby 50s sci-fi effects still make you want to jump up and shake life by the lapels. Sean Cousins’s vocal is impassioned, but with a slightly dazed off-mic sound reminiscent of Prolapse, and the whole song sounds like it was recorded in the greasy kitchen of a dirty diner.
The lyrics to ‘Enrage Engage’ ponder conspiracies and the future of tech in a pretty generic way, but the music is excellent, with sticky-burr synth tones teetering on the edge of atonal ugliness whilst the drums are crisp, and bright guitar chords slice like a sashimi chef’s knife. A flourish of indie-psych guitar and some snide vocal wah-wah lines have a hint of later Blur, but the track has a stoned wildness that’s more like Mudhoney. Whether your youthful aspirations are flourishing or mere desiccated memories, these tracks will make your life briefly brighter.
No comments:
Post a Comment