Don’t Worry – As If By Magic

Don’t Worry are an indie rock band from Harlow consisting of Ronan Van Kehoe (vocals, guitar), Samuel J. Watson (guitar, vocals), Alex Reed (bass, synths, programming) and Benedict McDowell (drums). Last Autumn, the outfit put out single ‘Deep End’ as part of Specialist Subject Records‘s Furlough Your Dreams compilation, seeing the return of the song which plays a sizeable role in the band’s origin story.

‘Deep End’ was first written way back when Van Kehoe and Watson were fresh in university, negotiating the changes such a move entails, and is emblematic of the early 2010s indie trend of youthful anxiety and disillusionment with growing up in a post-Crash world. After uploading it to Soundcloud, they got interest from Rough Trade New York, and though the funding for that fell through, the good folks at 80N7 went ahead with the compilation anyway. Don’t Worry weren’t the smash hit they could have been, but they were born nonetheless.

Though years have passed and a number of releases on Specialist Subject have followed, the ‘Deep End’ story feels relevant in light of the latest Don’t Worry single, ‘As If By Magic’. “With social media we’re now constantly reminded of the recent past and recent versions of ourselves,” Watson explains. “When I wrote this song, I’d been thinking a lot about how jarring that can be and how relentless the passing of time can feel.”

The single takes this on from both directions, exploring the double bind of such experiences, where the present is both constantly changing and inevitably worse than what has gone before. “On the one hand ‘As If By Magic’ deals with a dissatisfaction with a present moment that is overly compared to the ‘good times’,” Watson continues. “But it’s also a reminder not to swim too long in the warmth of nostalgia and to recognise the value in all experiences. There will always be an opportunity to change things up.”

This hope is made all the more important when set against the themes of the early single. Because we still feel too young and adrift, beholden to the same forces and disenchanted by the false promises they offer. The early 2010s threatened change, but in reality none was forthcoming. The same dead ends and roundabouts, the same hope for some magic intervention. Whether the name Don’t Worry is sincere or ironic depends on your point of view, but either way they are going through it too.

We had it good for a little while
Shaking the ground with popped tricks and the sound of an 808
There was a place where we all felt safe but eventually learned that square pegs don’t fit round holes
So get me a job in the big grey pound-shop warehouse
Homogenise with the sky

Dive into the rat race
Chop of the top of my head
Find whatever meaning in that which presents itself
I’ll find the time to look inside

‘As If By Magic’ is out now via Specialist Subject Records and available via the Don’t Worry Bandcamp page, along with a variety of merchandise including glow-in-the-dark plectrums, playing cards and what is surely the first of many merch table magic wands.

Photo by Oli Cox, artwork and logos by Bethan Jones