With a Sonic Youth-referencing title, the London-based Welsh indie quartet’s second LP, following 2023’s Dead Meat, is a short, sharp, punchy release of nine jangly, Johnny Marr-influenced guitar tracks, reflecting on love but also with a gut-wrenching, tragic finale. The Marr guitar style, skilfully played by George Nicholls, comes with a DIY style wistful, free-willing, no frills production energy that echoes indie Smiths- and Hüsker Dü-era 1980s indie-rock and folk-pop. This rings out energetically, fronted by the voice of Owen ‘O’ Williams, who has something a youthful folk-rock Richard Thompson in his timbre. Filled variously with stories and reflections on the ups and downs and many mistakes of relationships, yearning, tenderness, self-deprecation, regret, anger and lust, sometimes with several of these within one song, such as One More Day, with intense pub scene sightings of an ex, other standouts include The Thing Is, Chain Reaction, Freak Mode, Narcissist, or Fair Enough (“Though I’ve been an arsehole baby … caught in the middle of love, babe, you were fucking around”). But beyond all this tuneful jangle and emotional lyrical turmoil, on the final track, Strange, there’s a shocking, tragic twist with these opening lyrics related to his mother, the folk singer Charlotte Greig: “The summer after was nice/ Played in New York and it was alright / There when I found out the method/ From an article in WalesOnline/ A picture of my mother in a weird hat/ Under an overcast sky/ ‘Successful music journalist, mother of two/ Takes her own life’.” Powerful, melodic work. Out on Trouble In Mind Records.
New to comment? It is quick and easy. You just need to login to Disqus once. All is explained in About/FAQs ...
Whether it’s about this or others, feel free to recommend more new 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.