If ‘Barrel’ provided all the fun and chaotic energy of the Surf Party, USA name, then new single ‘Umbrella’ offers a different dimension to the band. A more downbeat, reflective mood crafted from acoustic guitars and restrained sax which hints at the things the surfing life aims to escape.  “I am a lonely feller,” as the song opens. “I sit under my umbrella / where the sun won’t shine, I’m trapped inside my mind / but safe under my umbrella.” The party might not be over, but the sun is dipping below the horizon and the tide going out, and all that’s left to do if wait and watch from the sand in hope of a better day.

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Ahead of debut full-length The Met, set for release next spring, this month sees the release of brand new single, ‘We Run On Empty’. Charting the effects of a toxic relationship on one’s sense of self, the track explores how identity can be distorted or erased by outside forces. The result is something at once intimate and distant. Like thoughts examined at arms length in the dead of night, only the pale gleam of the moon as illumination.

But from within this muted and ethereal soundscape, something else bubbles. A rising intensity, a sense of fear or anxiety, the desire to escape as an act of self-perseveration. The feeling is most palpable in the track’s closing minute, the smooth tones punctured by a needling reverb. A glitch in the atmosphere that reveals the suffocating weight of its form.

Check out the suitably dreamy video below, directed by the band themselves:

‘We Run On Empty’ is out now and available via the Colatura Bandcamp page. The Met is set for release sometime next year.

Photo by Justin Buschardt

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The EP opens with ‘She Don’t Wanna Know’, a groove-laden track where electric guitar snakes in sinuous circles, Jones’ crooned vocals wending their own way out. The tone is pitched somewhere between longing and uber-cool disinterest, like some heavily stylised version of heartbreak. This loose-limbed, languid aesthetic is the overarching link between all of the songs on the record, though within this frame Saint Charles is able to explore a range of styles.

Like follow-up track ‘Roses’, the insistent drum beat offset by tropical guitar to produce a rhythmic yet laidback sound that brings to mind the surf rock revival of Wavves and Best Coast. ‘Jetpack’ is perhaps the most rock-orientated track on the record, the drums reaching for shoegaze in their hasty tempo, Jones’ vocals all too happy to follow these quick slipstreams with his fluid cadence. Again, the guitar is light and spiraling, updrafts upon which the vocals float in mellow ease.

Closer ‘Lay On My Feet’ slows things once more, another playful slice of pop albeit coloured by a sweetly wistful edge. While the carefree smoothness remains, and the drum beat is imbued with a peppy kick, the guitar is reigned in somewhat, less showy or forthright than some of the other tracks. The effect is one of earnestness, as though the trendy exterior has dropped just an inch to show that, against all the odds, cool kids feel stuff too.

We’re lucky enough to be able to stream the EP in its entirety, so listen below before summer packs its bags and leaves us once more.

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The release opens with ‘Waitress’, a surf punk track raucous in its twin aims of cynicism and defiance, lead Megan Liscomb delivering her lines with sardonic glee:

“You’ll always be a waitress,
born to serve in a short dress
You’ll always be a waitress
and the bad man never dies”

‘THNX 4 The Sanctuary’ is more moody, the garage rock shifting towards 60s psychedelica, while the title track is similarly shadowy, rumbling and angsty rock-and-roll smothered in a shroud of dry ice. The final track ‘Phantom’ is a definite change of pace, a song about healed wounds and how all bad things do eventually end, providing a tender and reflective finale to a great little EP.

You can buy Spellbreaker now from Velvet Blue Music, including nice CD and vinyl editions. The band hope to release a full length album this year, so we’ll keep you updated.

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The Wytches are members of what is essentailly the garage rock-revival-revival, joining bands like Screaming Females and Krill in a sub-genre that is attempting to make rock darker and weirder. If you think strange surfy, grungy rock would appeal to you then check out the video below, shot by Steve Gullick and cut by Hoodbats.

Pre-order Wire Frame Mattress from Heavenly in the UK, and Partisan in the North America.

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Bos Taurus is out now on Hit or Heist Records and can be bought here. Have a listen on Spotify and there are some other bits and pieces on Bandcamp.

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Listen to two tracks below (and download them free of charge on Bandcamp). They plan to record a debut EP in the near future so keep an eye out.

Summer isn’t over until we say so.

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