Wonderfully offbeat, playful, original, witty post-punk with superb, sweeping melodies, warped experimental guitar, swinging, alternative rhythms, and laced with wry, clever ironic lyrics in this dynamic debut by the Nottingham quartet. “Don’t freak out if you don’t know what you’re doing / I don’t either,” sings Chris Bailey on former Song of the Day Happy Feet, a song that’s nothing to do with penguins and begins like a dark kitchen sink drama: “At the house, in 19-something / My uncle Paul dares my mother to drink bleach.” Like later track Amoeba, swings with a brilliant panache. Bailey at times even has echoes in his tone of Japan’s David Sylvian with with a louche irony. The title track contains a mischievous, nagging hiss throughout its offbeat jazzy bass lines, noodly guitar and stop-start rhythms. Nerve plays on many ideas of insecurity with lines such as “They’re gonna fire you in the morning / Why don’t you finish what you started?” Other standouts include the gentle Moving Target that jumps out with another line: “We worked for a long time / Now we're coming home with our dicks in our hands”, and closing toe-tapper Sunshine State. Mischievously original. Out on Exact Truth Records / The Orchard.
New to comment? It is quick and easy. You just need to login to Disqus once. All is explained in About/FAQs ...
Feel free to recommend more new songs and albums and comment below. You can also use the contact page, or find more on social media: Song Bar Twitter, Song Bar Facebook. Song Bar YouTube, and Song Bar Instagram. Please subscribe, follow and share.
Song Bar is non-profit and is simply about sharing great music. We don’t do clickbait or advertisements. Please make any donation to help keep the Bar running: