Tracks Of The Week, 24.03.17 - GigslutzGigslutz

Hauntingly beautiful – creepiness amplified by its spooky video but certainly underlying in the vocals – ‘Basal Flame’, the latest offering from Lucia Scansetti, is enough to make anyone’s hair stand on end.

Fresh from supporting Rodriguez on a run of European dates, Scansetti is finally introducing herself to the UK. Though drawing inspiration from the likes of Lucy Rose, Daughter and Laura Marling, ‘Basal Flame’ proves Scansetti as something completely fresh: dark, brooding folk, wrapped in Scansetti’s gorgeous vocals. This is how to tell a tale of unrequited love.

‘Basal Flame’ is out now.

It’s undeniable that Leeds-based four-piece The Hubbards know what they’re doing. With new single ‘Just Touch’ they straddle sweetly between a DIY, garage/grunge feel and pop sensibilities, a balancing act that never strays too far either way.

Despite such a blend of sounds and influences, ‘Just Touch’ presents The Hubbards as poised: ‘Just Touch’, for all its DIY mentality, is well-polished. Though taking influence from much older bands, there seems to be an air of harking back to more recent (but still nostalgic) indie too. What The Hubbards are doing right, however, is giving it a new lease of life. ‘Just Touch’ is an exciting taste of what’s to come.

‘Just Touch’ is out on 31 March.

Taken from their debut album Highway Moon – set for re-release later this year – Best Youth’s ‘Renaissance’ is a perfect introduction to their sound for those yet to discover it.

Blissful, synth-ridden and almost shoegazey in its ethereality, ‘Renaissance’ is a delicate dose of electronic indie. Powerful, a dash dark, but mostly just nostalgic, danceable 80s pop, ‘Renaissance’ is fun – teeming with pop sensibilities – but maintaining an air of super cool: a description which fits the band just as well as it does the track.

The re-release of Highway Moon is out on 5 May via Station 5.

Offering up a new slab of dark post-punk with ‘Call It Out’, H.Grimace are building excitement for their upcoming debut album.

In the band’s words “a response to a friend who had been drugged at a party but couldn’t name the perpetrator, but generally the song was about naming something you think should be said but are afraid to say,” ‘Call It Out’ is a call to stand up for something you believe in. Despite the shoegazey darkness of the track, ‘Call It Out’ is rather hopeful, rather encouraging and rather brilliant.

With a guitar pairing of Hannah Gledhill and Marcus Brown, from Melbourne and Yorkshire respectively, ‘Call It Out’ sees H.Grimace blend their influences to create a shoegaze/post-punk masterpiece.

Self Architect, the debut album from H. Grimace, it out 7 April. And catch them live:
19th March – The Social, LONDON
13th April – Rough Trade East, LONDON
17 – 20th August – Green Man Festival