The Nite Songs Singles Bar - August 2022

 

Summer in the city and the air is still as Aztec Camera once sang. Though not that still over here as we've got a bumper crop of new releases in this month's Singles Bar - we'll have a couple of EP's later this morning but for now let's get started by pouring a cold one and looking at the singles themselves...

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We could only really start with a new effort from Ginger Wildheart & The Sinners really as Lately Always (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗) represents the second release from their upcoming debut album due in October. Ginger's spoken of the Sinners as being an outlet for the much-loved country-influenced side of his output and while its predecessor Wasted Times didn't quite showcase this, great though it was, this is more what you might be expecting, a gentle mid-paced effort which is a perfect soundtrack to those lazy summer evenings chilling out in the garden. Great stuff as you'd expect. Bandcamp Link

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Ginger's not the only member of the Wildhearts fraternity with a release this month as well as Scott Sorry has also returned to the fray with The Saint Of Philadelphia (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗), a touching ode to his late bandmate from the Sinatras, Roger Segal who sadly lost his life earlier this year. Building well on Sorry's excellent When We Were Kings album from a few years ago, this is a soaring ode to Segal which soars triumphantly with its fist-in-the-air chorus. It ain't a funeral, it's a wake and I'm sure that's how Segal would've wanted it. Great stuff. Bandcamp Link

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Also making a welcome return to the fray this month are The Speedways with Shoulda Known (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑), a taster for their forthcoming third album Talk Of The Town, due in the autumn. There's a definite air of the Undertones here especially through Matt Julian's vocals although the sugar-sweet Romantics/Jags style melodies and backing vocals definitely add a dose of power-pop goodness into the equation. B-side Drop In The Ocean has a jangly almost '50s feel to it and is another good 'un. The Speedways are definitely a bit of an underrated group and this is another good release from them. Bandcamp Link

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Pulled Apart By Horses...bluddyell, now THERE'S a name I'd not heard for a long time. Now resident on Alcopop records alongside the likes of Helen Love and the Cheerbleederz, it seems to have brought out a new pop sensibility in them on the evidence of First World Problems (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑). The emo anger of old is still very much there but this 'un adds a suitably spiky punk riff and a big gang-chant chorus in here to show a band growing their sound well. B-side Rinse And Repeat has a slightly out of control feel to it which reminds me of Mr Shiraz as well which is no bad thing. Bandcamp Link

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Sturdy Wrists were formed from the ashes of Ferocity Lights, a band who I used to go and see quite a bit at various venues in Holloway and Camden back in my London days and Seize The Day (🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑) is no less than their fifth single. It's not a bad effort either with the frenetic panic-stricken nature of the song being reminiscent of Husker Du or maybe Bad Religion in one of their more mid-paced moments. Only slight complaint is that the vocals are a bit low in the mix which makes them a bit hard to keep track of at times but overall this isn't a bad effort at all. Bandcamp Link

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Well, who'da thunk it? Just a couple of weeks after we did a Garbage Days Revisited on them, a new Newtown Neurotics single lands on our review desk and Climate Emergency (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) isn't a bad comeback effort at all with the tight rhythms and Steve Drewitt's on-point-as-always lyrics combining to make something that reminds you just what a vital cog bands like the Neurotics are in the music scene. Worth investigating.

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Something a bit different to what we normally cover now as Sun's Signature are a collaboration between the Cocteau Twins' Liz Fraser and Massive Attack's Damon Reece and their debut single Apples (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) is as gentle and dreamy as you'd expect. Fraser is actually sounding better than ever here with her gentle voice being swept along on a wave of acoustic guitars and percussion to create something which will give you a few moments of much needed peace among the horrors of the world at the moment. Definitely worth investigating - expect a review of the mini-album in next month's Singles Bar.

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It's no secret that the summer months can see a bit of a paucity of new releases and trust me, there were a few releases we were sent this month that didn't make the grade just because of not being very good (names understandably withheld). So the late arrival of a new Jesse Malin single just as we were going to press was something of a timely intervention. And I'm pleased to report that Keep On Burning (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) is a good effort from the guy - a moody slice of breakup regret powered along by acoustic guitars and icy piano which is up with Malin's usual high standards. Good cover of Oh Oh I Love Her So on the B-side as well. Bandcamp Link

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Finally, something topical to finish off with Manchester lo-fi punks Loose Articles releasing their new single Kick Like A Girl (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) as a well aimed fuck-you to womens' football detractors in the wake of the Lionesses' World Cup win. It builds from a jerky staccato start to an enjoyably shambolic slice of early Fall style punk and is definitely one of the better things I've heard this month. Bandcamp Link

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As I mentioned earlier, this month's Singles Bar was definitely a case of sorting out the wheat from the chaff but hopefully we've come up with a suitably good set of newies for you to go and investigate. Check back later this morning when we'll have a couple of EP reviews to complete the picture for this month. Until then...

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