Silk For The Starving EP Lounge Society, The SKU: SWP003V Barcode: 5400863045968 14.00 £14.00 Genre: Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo Label: Speedy Wunderground Released Date: 18th June 2021 Buying Format: 12" EP/Mini Album Out of stock Back Order Add to your Wishlist Description Product Info New post-punk teenagers and latest Speedy Wunderground singings The Lounge Society hail from in and around the Pennine towns of Hebden Bridge and Todmorden in the Calder Valley of West Yorkshire. There the rain falls two hundred days a year upon the moss- draped, post-industrial ruins, the clouds scud overhead at speed and up on the heathered moor-tops carrion crows hungrily peck at the skulls of dead sheep. But down below, magical things are afoot. Strongholds of independent-living, Todmorden, where the quartet cut their teeth, is known for its abundance of magic mushrooms and as the UFO-sighting capital of Britain, while four miles down the road, the steep-sided hippy idyll of Hebden Bridge has been called “a drug town with a tourist problem”. Either way, this stretch of valley 25 miles from the centre of Manchester in which the band operate is the type of backwater that is attractive to outlaws of various varieties, as well as artists, writers and all- round miscreants for whom life in the city or the suburbs is just a little too straight. In Calderdale, culture is allowed to breathe. More recently the valley has enjoyed a musical renaissance centred around the venues of The Trades Club and The Golden Lion, a movement that some have glibly dubbed “the Calderfornia sound”, and which has recently spawned Working Men’s Club and The Orielles….and now The Lounge Society. “Growing up 5 minutes down the road from both venues has been hugely influential for us,” they say. “Sneaking in the back door when we were 14 years old and having to keep our heads down in order to watch The House Of Love or Peter Hook was the making of us.” Like any musical movement worth its salt, it’s not one that the bands themselves might willingly admit to being a part of, yet there must be something in the water. For while their contemporaries deal in jangle pop and contemporary rave, The Lounge Society – who met at their local high school in nearby Mytholmroyd (otherwise famous as the birth-place of poet Ted Hughes) – explore something more raucous. It’s a sound shot through with the adrenalized and undeniable youthful surges that informed both proto- and post-punk, with The Velvet Underground, Talking Heads and Fat White Family cited as shared influences. On their debut EP Silk For The Starving there’s a rawness which belies a self-assured songwriting slickness that is almost alarming for four teenagers. In tracks such as ‘Cain’s Heresy’ and their pulsing, paranoid reverb-laden debut single ‘Generation Game’ (released as a limited edition seven-inch on Speedy Wunderground in March 2020) there’s a sense of the anthemic too. The latter track, with its “What will the US do?” tag-line was bursting with so many ideas it was split over two sides of the same piece of vinyl. One reviewer remarked on it being a collision of Beta Band ambition, Fat Whites rabble-rousing and early Roxy Music sheen. Little wonder they were spotted and swiftly signed to the UK’s coolest and best small indie label (an accolade Speedy Wunderground officially won at the AIM Awards) in late summer 2020. Speedy, less we forget, have already gifted the world with some of the best new bands of their generation: Black Midi, Squid, Warmduscher, Black Country, New Road and others. Recorded with producer Dan Carey (Kae Tempest, Bat For Lashes, Fontaines D.C.) as soon as Covid-10 lockdown restrictions were lifted, Silk For The Starving crackles with the type of listless, nervous energy that comes when you’re teenager who has been denied all the simple pleasures in life, and you’ve been robbed of a precious summer that you’ll never get back. ‘Burn The Heather’ struts with brittle A Certain Ratio/Tom Club-style funk and takes its title from the annual local ritual burning of the moor-top heather by the rich rural landowners for their lucrative grouse-shoots (and which those down in the valley blame on causing frequent flooding), while also recycling a line from a Lawrence Ferlinghetti poem. “Our lyrics are a call-to-arms for people who share our dismay at the dismal future being carved out for people like us,” the band explain. “We want each line to be a brick through the window of just the right people.” The complex spikey prog-punk arrangements of ‘Television’ meanwhile, most recall the band for which the song is named, but with the type of ragged groove that Happy Mondays might have stuck on for hours in their early garage days. This is music that follows a strong north- west lineage whose roots reach deep into Manchester’s past, yet without ever once resorting to nostalgia. It’s future-facing. Elsewhere there’s plenty of sardonic sloganeering akin to Mark E. Smith were he lost in the rolling news of Twitter feeds that tell of corrupt presidents, useless Prime Ministers, race hate, rising debt, online trolls, empty celebrity culture, poisonous ideals and the general sense that the Western world is in a tailspin freefall towards complete disintegration. “There is an anger in the lyrics because we are angry, but we are angry at how fucked the world has become,” they say. “But our anger is not just speculative. We want to do our part in setting things right, little by little, and music is a tried and tested means of doing that.” If this is the case then The Lounge Society are going down swinging with a glorious soundtrack that could only be made in the here and the now. “Genocide makes for good TV!” yells Davey on ‘Television’, while ‘Cain’s Heresy’ tells of “the face of a nation – bloodied and bruised”. The EP’s raucous closer ‘Valley Bottom Fever’ depicts life in a “lonely town with a lonely state of mind” and tackles the subject of the twisted mindset that takes hold when one doesn’t leave the sun-starved place in which they live often enough. In Calderdale they call it valley bottom fever. The Lounge Society sing about what they know, then. Make no mistake, this is the sound of young England: articulate, enraged and energised. And – perhaps crucially – highly danceable too. It should give hope to anyone who has lost faith in the future, because here the future is in safe hands. The Lounge Society are: Cameron Davey (vocals/bass), Herbie May (guitar), Hani Paskin- Hussain (guitar) and Archie Dewis (drums). Benjamin Myers October 2020. Artist Lounge Society, The Genre Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo Label Speedy Wunderground Buying Options 12" EP/Mini Album Format 12" , EP/Mini Album Condition New Country UK Track Listings Burn The Heather Television Cain’s Heresy Valley Bottom Fever Share this On Facebook On Twitter Via Email More from Lounge Society, The and more from Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo View Product Quick View Lounge Society, The Tired of Liberty Rock And Pop | Speedy Wunderground | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 26th August 2022 £22.00 Select options Lounge Society, The Tired of Liberty £22.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Speedy Wunderground Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 26th August 2022 Read More Select options View Product Quick View Idles Joy as an Act of Resistance Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo | Partisan Records | 1LP, Includes Download Code Released 28th August 2018 £19.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Idles Joy as an Act of Resistance £19.00 Genre: Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo Label: Partisan Records SKU: PTKF2158-1 Formats: 1LP, Includes Download Code Released Date: 28th August 2018 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Spirit Of The Beehive, The Pleasure Suck Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo | Tiny Engines | 1LP, Includes Download Code Released 24th March 2017 £19.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Spirit Of The Beehive, The Pleasure Suck £19.00 Genre: Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo Label: Tiny Engines SKU: LPTE166 Formats: 1LP, Includes Download Code Released Date: 24th March 2017 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Nearly New View Product Quick View Buck Pets, The Mercurotones Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo | Island | 1LP Released 31st January 2023 £10.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Buck Pets, The Mercurotones £10.00 Genre: Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo Label: Island SKU: nn257107 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 31st January 2023 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View Civic Taken By Force Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo | ATO | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 10th February 2023 £20.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Civic Taken By Force £20.00 Genre: Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo Label: ATO SKU: ATO0624LP Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 10th February 2023 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Chavez Cockfighters Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo | Matador | 12", EP/Mini Album Released 13th January 2017 £8.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Chavez Cockfighters £8.00 Genre: Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo Label: Matador SKU: OLE11091 Formats: 12", EP/Mini Album Released Date: 13th January 2017 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Matt's picks View Product Quick View Bad Bad Hats Bad Bad Hats Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo | Don Giovanni | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 12th April 2024 £24.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Bad Bad Hats Bad Bad Hats £24.00 Genre: Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo Label: Don Giovanni SKU: LPDG293C Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 12th April 2024 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View Exotic Adrian Street And The Pile Drivers Shake, Wrestle ‘N’ Roll Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo | Burger Records | 1LP Released 15th July 2016 £21.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Exotic Adrian Street And The Pile Drivers Shake, Wrestle ‘N’ Roll £21.00 Genre: Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo Label: Burger Records SKU: BRGR990LP Formats: 1LP Released Date: 15th July 2016 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Cat Power Wanderer (Indies Only) Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo | Domino | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl, Includes Download Code Released 5th October 2018 £23.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Cat Power Wanderer (Indies Only) £23.00 Genre: Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo Label: Domino SKU: WIGLP435X Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl, Includes Download Code Released Date: 5th October 2018 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Whats Eating Gilbert That New Sound Youre Looking For Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo | Hopeless | 1LP Released 9th October 2015 £13.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Whats Eating Gilbert That New Sound Youre Looking For £13.00 Genre: Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo Label: Hopeless SKU: HR2150-1 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 9th October 2015 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Crobot Welcome To Fat City Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo | Nuclear Blast | 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released 23rd September 2016 £14.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Crobot Welcome To Fat City £14.00 Genre: Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo Label: Nuclear Blast SKU: NE3809-1 Formats: 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 23rd September 2016 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders See more in Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo Start again
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