Grubs are Roxy Brennan (of Two White Cranes, Joanna Gruesome and formerly Trust Fund), Owen Williams (also of Joanna Gruesome) and Jake May (who is more used to helping bands with PR and stuff than actually playing drums in them). They have just released their début album, It Must Be Grubs, which they describe thusly,
“It Must Be Grubs is meant to be fun and colourful and playful and enjoyable even though some of the lyrics and songs are a bit sad. We are very happy with it.”
And happy they should be, the album is an eighteen minute rush of jolly good fun. The band meld good things from all of the member’s other projects creating an infectious, if rather messy, brand of indie pop. Opener ‘What Cost’ sees Brennan take the lead and sounds very much like a lo-fi pop version of Two White Cranes, but with added shouty screechy vocals and group wooooahhs. Yes it’s as good as it sounds. ‘Nuffin’ is actually a pretty tight lo-fi pop song, with a beguiling sense of offhand good-times, while Brennan and Williams provide deadpan vocal harmonies on ‘Dec 15th’. The track’s lively drums give things an infectious energy, culminating in shout-along ending. It’s so fun and energetic you can’t help but imagine the band at the end all flushed and blushed, slightly sweaty and embarrassed like toddlers coming down from a Smartie-induced mania. ‘Work in Progress’ is about battling innate self-deprecation and trying to ignore those seemingly perfect people and, ultimately, taking tentative steps into self-care. Brennan repeats the chorus with increasing fervour, creating a strangely defiant and positive song about looking after yourself:
“I focus on myself
swimming everyday
so good for my health”
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‘There’s Something About Grubs’ has male and female vocals seemingly singing two different songs, while ‘Garnish’ is about just that, that green thing in the side of your plate that you don’t want to eat, as well as more serious things that crop up on the side of things, from mystery scratches to thoughts inside your head (“On the side of my head there’s a memory / I don’t know what from / we can talk it through endlessly”). ‘Gym Shame’ is another short burst of lo-fi rock which pairs squally guitars and pounded drums with sweet, innocent vocals, and ‘Windwaker’ is an endearingly twee track about playing the Gamecube (“Tuesday I get upset, playing Windwaker / I fall and fall again, I keep hitting the water”). It’s not an explicitly sad song but its chirpy happiness seems to exist in spite of something, something which suggests that making these little pop songs isn’t just a joke between friends.
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‘Skinner’ weaves increasingly agitated male and female vocals, which proceed to merge for the chorus, and ‘Tendons’ is another song about self-improvement and the pains of exercise (“if I run five miles today all joints ache”). ‘Good Timez’ signs off with one final rush of catchy lo-fi pop, complete with a brilliant shout-a-long chorus of “I WILL FOLLOW YOU!” If it sounds like three friends messing around and having fun then that’s because it is! But what else do you want from your lo-fi rock & roll?
You can get It Must Be Grubs as a digital download via the Grubs bandcamp page. Or if you’d like something a little more substantial then why not order the album on vinyl, also on Bandcamp, through Reeks of Effort and Tuff Enuff Records.