Everything Everything - Regret
Possibly their most challenging album yet, Get To Heaven (given five stars by Q, dubbed a “masterpiece” by DIY) has already spawned the apocalyptic pop monster Distant Past and now delivers Regret, a 60s-inspired single which grapples with the quartet’s usual macabre themes – technology’s evil grip on humanity, a pained nostalgia for the past, a crippling fear of the future – but most of all sounds like a group uncompromising in their pursuit for making uncomfortably odd indie pop.
Beach Baby - No Mind No Money
Graduates of the musically fertile Goldsmiths College in London, Beach Baby were founded by co-vocalists Ollie and Lawrence, who placed an advert looking to expand their then folk-driven group, and discovered bassist Iraklis and drummer Shep. Now making new wave (or perhaps, more appropriately nu-wave), this glorious single is picking up a bit of Radio 1 play, and will show it off during Hackney’s Field Day festival this weekend. No doubt enrapturing those already fond of Mac Demarco and Unknown Mortal Orchestra, this song also reminds me of the sweet, wry romance of art-pop masters Orange Juice.
Gwenno - Patriarchaeth
Here’s an intro you don’t get to write every week: former Pipettes frontwoman Gwenno Saunders has made a political album inspired by Owain Owain’s 1976 Welsh-language sci-fi novel Y Dydd Olaf (The Last Day) about a dystopian future where the robots have taken over and are busily turning the human race into clones through the use of medication. Masquerading these knotty themes under a wave of heavenly kraut-pop, her album Y Dydd Olaf will be released on 24 July on Heavenly Recordings, after its initial limited edition run with Peski Records sold out in weeks. Drawing from the electronic music pioneers Daphne Oram and Delia Derbyshire, Patriarchaeth is its leading single and is almost certainly a feminist manifesto, but I am unfortunately unable to translate its Welsh lyrics. A lot of of it is dreamily meandering “doo-doo-dooos” anyway. Up yours, men!
Daughn Gibson - Daddy I Cut My Hair
Doyen of disconcerting crooners, Daughn Gibson returns with yet another album full of intense storytelling set to cinematic soundscapes replete with ripples of sexuality and sinisterism. The latest track lifted from Carnation is Daddy I Cut My Hair, and its video follows the movements of a young girl as she navigates the rugged terrain of an neglected American town. The entire clip was filmed on location in Gibson’s home territory of Pennsylvania’s coal region, featuring the towns of Centralia, Jim Thorpe, Mahanoy City, Mt Carmel, Nesquehoning, Shamokin and Shenandoah; little happens aside from the looming sense of foreboding, tempered slightly by closeups of the Sub Pop heartthrob shovelling chips into his mouth. Dreamy.
Ducktails - Headbanging in the Mirror
If you’re after louche lightness from your indie then the new single from Ducktails, aka Real Estate’s Matt Mondanile, should be aptly ambient after the disconcerting Daughn Gibson. Entitled Headbanging in the Mirror, it’s wistful lounge music, serene and sunlit; and generally in keeping with all of Real Estate’s sedate, suburban aesthetics. Unlikely to kick start the revolution but beautiful hold muzak while we’re waiting nonetheless.
