This week's review of essential new releases.
The Last Dinner Party by Laura Marie Cieplik | Words: Lloyd Bolton, A.L. Noonan, Josh Parsonage, Hazel Blacher, Isabel Kilevold and Brad Sked
As The Last Dinner Party announce the release of their second album, we also have new releases from They Are Gutting A Body Of Water, Lover's Skit, The Cindys, Rowan and Friends, Domina, LIPWORMS, DAAY, Opal Mag and Winter McQuinn.
The Last Dinner Party – 'This is the Killer Speaking'
The Last Dinner Party pick up right where they left off on brand new single 'This is the Killer Speaking', announcing with it their second album 'From The Pyre', due for release this October. A stomping beat kicks it off, and bells and piano ramp up the tension, over which a foggy nighttime cemetery scene is laid out. This drama trades off with the band's instinct for unabashed fun as an instantly memorable chorus kicks in with "aah aahs" that have an ABBA-like singalong quality. There is also a family resemblance to Pixies' 'Here Comes Your Man', mutated by costume melodrama into "Here comes the killer". After the enormous success of 'Prelude to Ecstasy', the band apparently to have full freedom to delve deeper into the elaboration of their extended universe, their new album promising "rifles scythes, sailors, saints…" and more in a collection of character driven tales woven into song. (Lloyd Bolton)
They Are Gutting A Body Of Water – 'Trainers'
For musical styles like shoegaze, where key signifiers like extreme distortion or dense reverb are so essential, it can be hard for acts to stand out while holding true to the core of their genre. Philadelphia's They Are Gutting A Body Of Water avoid this trap, releasing consistently interesting and progressive shoegaze that still preserves the tropes that embody the style. Their latest release 'Trainers' is a complete product of this approach. At its core is a morose dance between blunted Jazzmaster arpeggios and teeth-grindingly dense waves of bleeding distortion, 'Trainers' is a brief, pitch perfect union of tender introversion and purifying rage evocative of the angst of isolation – ideal for the fury of shouty black and white TikTok edits. TAGABOW's mastery in delivering catharsis with intrigue is whole on 'Trainers', progressing from a fuzz-laden core into an outro of tumbling pitch-shifted guitar gymnastics. Utterly dynamic, wholly intoxicating. (A. L Noonan)
Lover's Skit - 'BAD LYFE'
Based between London and Stockholm, Lover's Skit are a politically charged dance-punk duo fusing assertively hypnotic beats with Caribbean rhythms. Their explosive new single 'BAD LYFE', crashes onto the scene with unapologetic intensity and raw rebellious energy. Comprised of gritty vocalist Nathalia Aránguiz and expansive producer Ove Jerndal, the band translate their broad range of influences (Death Grips, M.I.A, The Knife) into a floor-filling wildfire of Y2K flair and personal rage. When asked about 'BAD LYFE' Aránguiz said: "Bad Lyfe is my own, completely made-up fantasy about success. It's about challenges in the music industry as a young woman and how I'm learning to leave all the shit behind me." The duo deliver their message through a satirical image built on wit and irony, an approach anchored by the accompanying music video. Having already made their mark on the UK with their fiery, exhilarating live shows, on 'BAD LYFE', Lover's Skit turn the heat up even further. (Josh Parsonage)
The Cindys – 'Eternal Pharmacy'
The new project from Jack Ogborne (aka Bingo Fury) today announces itself formally with debut single 'Eternal Pharmacy'. Musically, it is a jangling departure from the brooding experiments of Bingo Fury, which was built around a dynamic synthesis of jagged post-punk with jazz arrangements. The sound of The Cindys, whose lineup is completed by Naima Bock and members of Belishas, is more direct, with hooky melodies and clean-cut guitars. The main thread of consistency with Ogborne's previous projects is his obliquely evocative baritone vocals. References to a "shot through leather sky" and a "full contact smokers' lounge" could be read either as easter eggs for Bingo Fury fans or as reinterpretations of pages of the same songwriter's notebook applied in a very different musical framework. Within this new sound, there is also space for a different kind of humour, akin to the irreverent spontaneous cheek written into the works of artists like David Berman and Destroyer. We hear it as the chorus rolls with deliberate awkwardness into the overlong line "sometimes I miss you like today for example". The band have been working quickly behind the scenes and they have promised more new music very soon. (Lloyd Bolton)
Rowan and Friends – 'You Will Never Get That Feeling Back'
'You Will Never Get That Feeling Back' is a startling songwriting achievement, a sprawling, searing account of the cycles of innovation and imitation which, in blacker moments, can be felt to define history. In one sweep, Rowan touches on the Second Coming, the life of St. Augustine, Scarborough's Elvis tribute act Tony Skingle, Joni Mitchell's use of blackface, and the nature of war and peace. Harmonica bursts between verses, adding a sense of emotive overspill, while the music rolls on as a platform for this strident dressing down of human history. The closing reflection, "If you want peace, don't go to war," is a sentiment that has been learned repeatedly across time. In this context, it seems to have crawled from the shadow of Israel's war on Palestine and the Israeli regime's professed logic of repudiation for the October 7th attacks. The song is not simply a protest against any one thing, however. Rather it is a breathtaking big picture interpretation of humanity, art, progress and stagnation. (Lloyd Bolton)
LIPWORMS - 'Teeth'
Portsmouth's LIPWORMS are bringing a new level of psychological intensity to the acid house-psych scene, and their latest release, 'Teeth', is a striking testament to that. The edgy dance track is as visceral as it is dissonant, provoking both movement and reflection. The band wear their acid influences proudly, with echoes of dance pioneers like Orbital and Underworld ringing through. Yet, their sound remains distinctly their own: disquieting, brooding, and uncompromising. 'Teeth' itself was borne of a recording of one of the band's amorphous and unpredictable live shows, and the four-piece describing the creative process as having "fucked with it" relentlessly in a sweaty, dimly lit loft. The adrenaline-laced release arrives via grassroots label Strong Island Recordings, best known for the early works of Los Bitchos and ugly ozo. If LIPWORMS continue on this trajectory, they are certainly poised to become the label's next big discovery. (Josh Parsonage)
Domina - 'Apathy'
Like those rare and exhilarating cloudless early summer days that sharpen the senses and sweep you into a state of bushy-tailed reverie, there is a weightlessness to Domina's 'Apathy' that lifts you directly towards its pure, rose-tinted light. The debut single from the London trio is equal parts dream pop and hypagognia. It recalls the spacey, blissed out drum machines and pillowy synth soundscapes of 'Depression Cherry'-era Beach House, with perhaps a little more melodic restraint and an overall more lucid production style. A brilliantly refreshing and delicate introduction to Domina, 'Apathy' washes over you like goosebumps at the precise moment when you remember just how wonderful it is to be alive. (Hazel Blacher)
DAAY – 'Guru Deva'
Psychedelia is in essence amorphous, intangible and surreal – elements that translate well into music, due to the artform's inherently abstract nature. For years, though, psych bands have played things very safe, presenting something more like 60s garage rock revival with the added boost of a Korg MS20 and some artisanal phaser pedals. DAAY stand wholly apart from this reductive throng, and on their latest release 'Guru Deva', they set a new standard for contemporary psychedelic pop. Bubbling and stuttering guitar jolts are blanketed by phased sax lines and oddly metered, highly processed vocals that invoke a blend of Julian Casablancas-style auto-tune with Cedric Bixler-Zavala's range. DAAY's celestial flavour of psychedelia feels inherently progressive, and through playful melodic development and sublime synth arranging, they morph pop's formulaic conventions into something alien and unexpected. A rarity among acts active at the minute, and another exhilarating chapter in the unfolding story of neo-psychedelia. (A. L Noonan)
Opal Mag – 'Kitchen Song'
Dancing barefoot under a string of fairy lights alone in your bedroom past midnight –these are the moments 'Kitchen Song' feels like it was written for. Opal Mag invites listeners into an intimate, hazy dreamscape where dimly lit bedroom confessions meet a gentle shoegaze drift. Soft guitar textures and a hypnotic pulse create an atmosphere where dream-pop and indie rock fuse into a melancholic, warm, and subtly distorted sound. 'Kitchen Song' is minimalistic lyrically, and Opal Mag's vocals blend seamlessly into the instrumentation. The focus is on mood over narrative, and a trace of lo-fi grit adds an analogue feel. Drawing on influences like Mazzy Star and The Smashing Pumpkins, here Opal Mag brims with '90s nostalgia, and 'Kitchen Song' is a subtle, yet compelling love letter to quiet moments and late nights. (Isabel Kilevold)
Winter McQuinn – 'Always Looking'
Collaborating with Dylan Young and Hot Apple Band, Melbourne's Winter McQuinn has returned with 'Always Looking', courtesy of Aussie label Third Eye Stimuli. On the new track, jangly psychedelic folk coalesces with baroque-pop in a way that evokes the whimsical sounds of Margo Guryan, Cut Worms and fellow psychonauts Babe Rainbow. A joyous sun-drenched frolic perfect for rural summer days, 'Always Looking' arrives ahead of the prolific McQuinn's third full length solo record 'Where Are We Now?', due for release in September. The single is also accompanied by a wonderful hand-animated video by artist Millar Wileman that beautifully encapsulates the essence of psych-folk wonder. (Brad Sked)
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