New Violent Soho Is Messy In A Good Way

In the scheme of things, there’s a range of new songs out this week which will be considered ‘important’ - probably on the basis of just how interested - or not - you are in music. There’s one from Adele – in case your mum still hasn’t realised she’s got an album out. Meantime, Peter Garrett’s first solo tune probably proves the former member for Kingsford-Smith probably wasn’t the Oils’ prime lyricist. Conversely, Justin Timberlake turned up at Eurovision and proved himself funkier than an entire continent (and the bit of the Middle East and that island in Oceania they tacked on for the purpose of the exercise…). Oh, and there’s Coldplay. Remember what I said about a lack of interest in music? Yeah, that.

Of course, there’s things good and bad on the next level of mass-consciousness down. That’s also probably as it should be. You might even be sick of seeing The Rubens in their own clips, so Cut Me Loose (Ivy League) decides to make song and video pretty much separate entities. Song has the necessary hooks and big chorus that will further their appeal as they tour Europe, while engaging the singular Spod to provide the visuals, which he makes all about him and the trials of being a big time fillum director, with added video game monsters. Or something. 

Having such multi-skilled friends can be handy, even if your own musical description starts with the definitely varied credits of ‘electronica’ and ‘harpist’. Jake Meadows has those descriptors, which makes for some intrigue in his music for starters. The insistent whisper of Lost Entitlement (Independent) is a more-than-competent construction in its own right, but if you need a further selling point, adding the Daniel Johns name to the credits couldn’t hurt. His voice wafts through as you’d expect, and will certainly give the wider world a point of recognition.

Already with more than enough recognition, The Last Shadow Puppets even get that worrying term of ‘supergroup’ hung upon them. Then again, in his current role as indie godhead in the UK, Alex Turner could just about release an album of himself doing duck calls and it’d be pronounced genius. For their part here, he and Miles Kane seem to be making Miracle Aligner (Domino) a bit of a ‘what we did on our holidays’ lark: Italianate backgrounds, ‘baroque pop’ somewhere on an odd reverential line between Spandau Ballet and The Smiths, and people are complaining about the haircut. Weird world. 

If looking for something with very little pretence whatsoever, be happy Cash Savage & The Last Drinks exist. Big, mean countryish blues is the currency of Rat-A-Tat-Tat (Independent), although as a drinking song it’s closer to The Drones than Nashville. Cash still mixes an ability to make you feel the ache as she belts it out, the tension in what she’s maybe holding back another thing to beckon you closer, if only for you to buy the next round of shots. 

If Cash’s spirit of place is somewhere just off Route 66 or The Hume with the semi-trailer headlights piercing by, PLGRMS also reflect their location - or the space between. Their creative process takes place between the members’ Australian and English bases, Fools And Their Gold (0E0E) is synthesiser-based, but with some human kick to it, some of which is provided by Preatures drummer Luke Davison who’s also a part of their live unit. Result ends up somewhere in the M83 or Alt-J ballpark, and will likely appeal to those who can name a tune by either of those.

Things can be messy in a good way. Violent Soho remain proof of that claim. So Sentimental (I Oh You) is probably not the kind of title you’d expect from them, but as it sprawls through the door the buzzy guitar and apparently lackadaisical approach in the vocals works on their own terms, but could also make people hurry in during one of their support spots to Dinosaur Jr, misled into thinking the headliners have turned up early. The art of slackness, or the pretence of seeming like you are, never goes out of fashion.  

But some people want to change a bit. Jess Cornelius, in her Teeth & Tongue band guise wanted a tune redone to illustrate the changes her music is going through, but wanted to save a song perhaps too good waste. The brief of ‘remove some of the country from it’ proved tough, until a sleep-scrawled note of ‘No snare’ gave her the key to change. Said drum sound removed and Cupcake Revisited (Dot Dash/Remote Control) becomes a thing of uncomfortable longing.

\In a world where assembling the three-minute pop song that holds your attention is a challenge beyond many, for Tuesday Fresh Cuts (Independent) to meander for six-and-a-half minutes, yet always seeming to be headed somewhere is quite a thing. Bree Tranter, with her history as part of that oddly unfulfilled memory that is The Middle East as well as part of Matt Corby’s live band, does conjure something that feels like dawn just as the streetlights start blinking off, with some Bleeding Gums Murphy sax-on-a-bridge drifting in from a distance to keep you aware of your surroundings. Shall we call it ‘moody’? Ok, lets.