- 1Formal Sppeedwear - Hit 'n' Run
MELO149
•
Open edition
After forcing fans to their feet with new-wave anthem ‘Wait (Hatchet Gets a New Hide)’, Formal Sppeedwear keep the engine running with new single ‘Hit ‘n’ Run’. It lands with the force of an SUV, and ain’t waiting round to trade insurance details.
With their debut EP long since sold-out, queues out the door for Great Escape & Manchester Psych Fest slots and a convoy of fans at BBC 6 Music, ‘Hit ‘n’ Run’ sees the three return at their most esoteric - walking a high wire balancing act between janky odd-meter grooves, revolving polyrhythms and soaring, fuzzy guitar melodies.
Recorded unassisted from their DIY studio space in Stoke-on-Trent, the trio collage the full breadth of their influences into a brisk 3 minutes; assembling an immediate, forward moving piece of work that owes as equal an amount to the looping minimalism of Steve Reich or Terry Riley as it does to the catchy new wave hooks of Yellow Magic Orchestra or DEVO.
‘We’ve written something we wouldn’t usually write…and I like it” says frontman and bass player Beck Clewlow. “I love starting the writing process with only my bass and a little drum machine. Rhythm influences vocals most of all, and Hit ‘n’ Run was an indulgent jumble of shifting signatures and backbeats for us to experiment with.”
Hit ‘n’ Run lifts from 70s New Hollywood and compares them to Stoke-on-Trent suburbs of the present, as Beck explains “lifts from the parallels between these classic cinematic vignettes of small rural American towns and the small town that I live in. The only difference being a distinct lack of serial murders..”
With a debut album around the corner & two anticipated headline shows in London & Manchester coming, it feels like things are about to go up a gear…
With their debut EP long since sold-out, queues out the door for Great Escape & Manchester Psych Fest slots and a convoy of fans at BBC 6 Music, ‘Hit ‘n’ Run’ sees the three return at their most esoteric - walking a high wire balancing act between janky odd-meter grooves, revolving polyrhythms and soaring, fuzzy guitar melodies.
Recorded unassisted from their DIY studio space in Stoke-on-Trent, the trio collage the full breadth of their influences into a brisk 3 minutes; assembling an immediate, forward moving piece of work that owes as equal an amount to the looping minimalism of Steve Reich or Terry Riley as it does to the catchy new wave hooks of Yellow Magic Orchestra or DEVO.
‘We’ve written something we wouldn’t usually write…and I like it” says frontman and bass player Beck Clewlow. “I love starting the writing process with only my bass and a little drum machine. Rhythm influences vocals most of all, and Hit ‘n’ Run was an indulgent jumble of shifting signatures and backbeats for us to experiment with.”
Hit ‘n’ Run lifts from 70s New Hollywood and compares them to Stoke-on-Trent suburbs of the present, as Beck explains “lifts from the parallels between these classic cinematic vignettes of small rural American towns and the small town that I live in. The only difference being a distinct lack of serial murders..”
With a debut album around the corner & two anticipated headline shows in London & Manchester coming, it feels like things are about to go up a gear…
